Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday joined his fellow senators in reinforcing the Philippines’ commitment to international standards for chemical weapon control.
As a member of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, Cayetano on November 5, 2024 co-signed Committee Report No. 344 for Senate Bill No. 2871.
It is titled “An Act Prohibiting the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons, Providing for Their Destruction, Imposing Penalties for Violations, and Appropriating Funds Therefor.”
This aligns with the country’s obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), formally known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.
A key provision of the measure designates the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) as the Philippine National Authority on the Chemical Weapons Convention (PNA-CWC).
It will serve as the national focal point for effective liaison with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and other state parties to fulfill the country’s commitments to the convention.
The measure prohibits several activities, including the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer, or use of chemical weapons.
Additional prohibited activities include engaging in any military preparations with the use of a chemical weapon; assisting, encouraging or inducing a person to engage in any activity that is prohibited to a State Party under the Convention; exporting and importing Schedule 1 chemicals to or from a State not a Party to the Convention, including transit through such State; and using riot control agents as a method of warfare.
Cayetano has long been an advocate against weapons of mass destruction. As Foreign Affairs Secretary in 2017, he signed the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“The world will only be safe if we eliminate all weapons of mass destruction,” Cayetano stated at the assembly.
