A Rejoinder to Maj. Armand Rico on the Mine Ban Treaty

[Editorial Staff]

A Rejoinder to Maj. Armand Rico on the Mine Ban Treaty Rigoberto F. Sanchez Spokesperson Merardo Arce Command Southern Mindanao Regional Operational Command New People's Army July 21, 2008 Maj. Armand Rico of the Eastern Mindanao Command, spokesperson of the AFP's biggest area command, opts to stick to his myopic understanding of the Mine Ban Treaty even if it is quite obvious that his ranting is leading to nowhere. His dim-witted comprehension of the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and Their Destruction, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty or Ottawa Treaty is a mark of the AFP's classical propaganda fraud. By alleging that command-detonated mines of the type being used by the NPA against the AFP are covered by the treaty, Maj. Rico cuts a figure of an AFP officer, and a spokesperson at that, whose understanding of the Mine Ban Treaty does not go beyond the treaty title. Failure on his part to understand the language, intent and spirit of international documents governing the conduct of armed conflict is an addition to the AFP's arsenal of duplicity. He is well-advised to read on and correctly comprehend; not speculate nor fabricate. But that too, might be akin to asking for justice from incorrigible violators of human rights and international humanitarian law. And so, we allow him to wallow in ignorance. It is noteworthy that Maj. Rico has yet to issue a comment on our twin challenge that if he is serious in his deceitful advocacy of the Mine Ban Treaty, he should 1) call on their United States imperialist master to sign it and join the 158 signatories, and 2) put a stop to the AFP's practice of surrounding their detachments with "pressure-detonated" anti-personnel mines explicitly disallowed by the treaty because they pose a direct danger to the civilian populace since their camps are built within population centers, which is another continuing travesty of international humanitarian law. His silence on the matter is a public admission of a known fact: that the AFP makes a mockery of human rights and international humanitarian law. The torture of a child committed by Sgt. Manuel Doria and Airforce 2nd Class Rex Dimaculangan of the Philippine Air Force Tactical Operations Group in Panacan, Davao City on July is not a mere isolated incident. The atrocities done by AFP personnel is rooted in its anti-people and fascist orientation.