(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, Feb. 1, hailed the Senate’s unanimous ratification of a treaty that bans nuclear weapons.
The President said in a Palace statement that the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was a “milestone, reinforcing the Philippines’ resolve together with the international community in pursuing a world free of nuclear weapons for peace, security, and the survival of all humanity.”
He said it also shows the Philippines’ “principled commitment to work towards the complete elimination of weapons of mass destruction.”
For this, he noted the Philippines’ previous adoption of the Bangkok Treaty establishing the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ), the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, and the Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions.
“As I said during my address at the United Nations General Assembly General Debate, the Philippines joins hands with like-minded states in pushing for the complete prohibition of the development, possession, use, and transfer of nuclear weapons,” the President said.
Twenty-three senators concurred with Senate Resolution 620 that ratified the treaty, which bans the development, testing, production, manufacturing, transfer, possession, stockpiling, and use or threat to use of, among others, of nuclear weapons.
Over 80 countries have signed the treaty which Senator Koko Pimentel, chair of the Senate foreign relations committee who principally authored Senate Resolution 620, described as the “first globally applicable multilateral agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons based on international humanitarian law.”