It’s a weapon banned under international rules in most countries, but the New People’s Army is not known for playing by any rules except its own. The group, nominally communist but reduced to extortion and banditry, is believed responsible for planting the landmine that hit a convoy of government vehicles including three ambulances in Bansalan, Davao del Sur.
At least 11 soldiers and five civilians were wounded in the explosion Sunday night, according to the Armed Forces Eastern Mindanao Command. The convoy was taking to a hospital several soldiers wounded in a firefight earlier in the day with the NPA. The ambulances belonged to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.
Landmines are lethally effective but do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants. The Philippines has joined about 160 other states in banning landmines, ratifying a convention that was signed over a decade ago. Landmines scattered in the world’s conflict zones have been responsible for killing and maiming civilians including children. Many of the weapons remain unaccounted for and continue to endanger life and limb in several areas. Maimed victims of landmines hobble around in the streets of Afghanistan, Cambodia, Vietnam and several other countries.
In the Philippines, security officials say improvised landmines continue to be used mostly by the NPA. Until the peace negotiations entered a positive phase, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front was also believed to have used the banned weapons.
The latest incident in Davao del Sur should further firm up the government’s resolve to confine to the local level the pursuit of peace with communist cadres and their sympathizers. Using landmines can only further erode any public sympathy left for a movement whose ideology has been discredited around the world. Those who want to turn their backs on random violence and abandon the movement must be encouraged and given sufficient support.