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Antimining protesters in Romblon province started the violence that
led to the fatal shooting of an activist, the company involved in
the incident said here Saturday.
Jose Miguel Cabarrus, president of Sibuyan
Nickel Properties Development Co. (SNPDC), told reporters that Arman
Marin, 42, a municipal councilor was killed only after he tried to
seize the gun of a company security guard on Wednesday during a
protest on the island of Sibuyan.
Local environmental groups have seized upon
Marin’s death as a rallying point, accusing the guard of gunning
him down during a peaceful protest.
But Cabarrus said Marin and about a hundred
protesters had caused the violence as they were picketing another
mining company, Filipinas Top Rock Mines.
“We’re already been crucified as the bad
guys,” he said, complaining that no one had tried to get their
side of the story.
“Our people were not the aggressors. They were
not the instigators either. Rather they were the victims,” he
added.
Cabarrus said a jeep carrying the guard and
three Sibuyan Nickel employees were passing by when the protesters
confronted them.
When they tried to turn back, the demonstrators
mobbed the vehicle and Marin tried to grab the guard’s gun,
causing it to go off and hitting him.
Cabarrus said protesters also beat one of the
employees, detaining her until police arrived.
The security guard surrendered himself to
police, said Cabarrus, adding that they were gathering information
for possible legal action against the protesters.
He also showed a police report indicating that
the protesters had fired at the jeep.
Cabarrus added the company was not connected to
Filipinas Top Rock, the target of the protests, and that their
mining claim was far from the scene of the rally.
Reports said Marin was an activist even before
he was elected to the municipal council.
“Kalikasan PNE condemns in the strongest terms
the killing of Councilor Marin and demands immediate and complete
justice for his death,” Kalikasan PNE national coordinator
Clemente Bautista said in a statement.
The group identified Marin as the 23rd
environmental advocate to be killed under the Arroyo administration,
and the 20th to be killed in relation to large-scale mining projects
by the government.
“Kalikasan PNE is alarmed at this continuing
bloodletting of antimining advocates and defenders of national
patrimony under the current administration. The killings are sure to
continue if the Arroyo administration insists on pursuing these
large-scale mining projects,” Bautista said.
The Romblon Nickel Project is being operated by
Australian mining firm Pelican Resources Ltd. (PRL) through its
subsidiary Sunshine Gold Pty, in partnership with SNPDC.
“We reiterate the demand that the mining
project by SNPDC in Sibuyan be pulled out for causing these
human-rights violations against community leaders. We demand that
the DENR scrap all plans of approving the main Mineral Production
and Sharing Agreement mining permit being sought by Pelican for the
site,” Bautista said.
--With AFP
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