The Philippines has expressed concern over rhetoric being made on the use of nuclear weapons as it called on nuclear-weapon states to honor their disarmament obligations under a non-proliferation agreement. During the recent General Debate of the United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC) at the UN headquarters, Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations Antonio Lagdameo called for urgent transparency and accountability of nuclear-weapon states as obliged by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT is an international treaty that aims to prevent the spread of nuke and its technology to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to achieve general nuclear disarmament. Lagdameo also stressed that the outer space must remain exclusively for peaceful purposes as Manila opposed any attempt to turn it into a warfighting domain. The diplomat's statement came as the UNDC approached its third and final substantive session, which runs from April 3 to 20, before making recommendations on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and on practical implementation of transparency and confidence-building measures in outer space activities. The appeal also came as Russia deployed its nuclear weapons to Belarus "to defend" its security amid the alleged expansion of NATO, while North Korea had been conducting ballistic missile tests. Lagdameo voiced the Philippine concerns over nuclear rhetoric as well as the continued modernization and refinement of nuclear weapon capabilities. He also spoke on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which committed to observe nuclear disarmament through international instruments and ASEAN-led mechanisms that preserve Southeast Asia free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction. He then reiterated the urgent need for transparency and accountability through benchmarks, measurable, and timebound actions on nuclear disarmament with established deadlines as a practical step towards the achievement of a world free of nuclear weapons. While Lagdameo said there must be an urgent need to reduce the risk of nuclear weapons use, he said this must not be an alternative to total nuclear disarmament.