Some senators are now pushing for bipartisan support on the measure that seeks to ban and criminalize the use and production of chemical weapons.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, chairperson of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, said the enactment into law of Senate Bill No. 2871, or the proposed Chemical Weapons Prohibition Act, now under Committee Report No. 344, is crucial in light of incidents of misuse of chemicals for nefarious purposes.
SB No. 2781 seeks to outlaw activities related to the use and manufacture of chemical weapons and establishing a verification mechanism for chemical industries to control toxic chemicals that can be diverted for the production of chemical weapons.
The bill primarily aims to ban the development, production, possession, transfer, and use of chemical weapons within the country, Estrada said.
“Our goal is to discourage the use of dual-use chemicals in the development of harmful chemical weapons. We do not want to give an extra burden or prevent the growth of our local chemical industry, especially since it is one of the largest manufacturing sub-sectors in the country that includes 1,400 chemical manufacturing firms and 147,000 direct employees,” Estrada said.
“We are proposing the streamlining of the policies followed by the said industry and the existence of a coordination mechanism between the regulatory agencies so that the permits they need to get are not repeated or duplicated,” the senator explained.
Dual-use chemicals are substances commonly found in everyday items, such as solvents for dyes in textile printing, ink in ballpoint pens, coatings in paints, lubricants, and antioxidants in cosmetics.
These chemicals, Estrada warned, can also be easily converted into chemical weapons, serving as vesicants or blistering agents that can be fatal to anyone exposed to them.
Estrada said the approval of the measure into law would make the Philippines compliant with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The Philippines is among the first countries to sign the treaty in January 1993.
Despite the Senate’s concurrence in the ratification of the CWC, the senator noted Congress has not enacted the national legislation needed to fully enforce its objectives - which is a complete ban on a whole class of weapons of mass destruction.
“Apart from being an international obligation, this measure provides the regime to manage chemicals of security concern, as well as the tools to prevent, respond to, and manage chemical incidents, that is crucial for national security and regional stability,” Estrada said.
“Moreover, this acts as a deterrence as the bill provides stiff penalties for violations, in consonance with the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, and the Strategic Trade Management Act (STMA). The bill seeks to effectively reduce the threat of chemical terrorism and ensure that advancements in chemistry will only be for peaceful purposes,” said Estrada.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano echoed Estrada’s call, being a member of the national defense and security, peace, unification and reconciliation panels.
A key provision of the measure designates the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) as the Philippine National Authority on the Chemical Weapons Convention (PNA-CWC).
Cayetano said the measure 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.
As former foreign affairs secretary, Cayetano said he has long been an advocate against weapons of mass destruction.
In 2017, Cayetano, then Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) chief, 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.