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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY: The military mounted a new
operation against communist insurgents who raided a mining firm in
Compostela Valley, officials said Friday.
Suspected members of the New People’s Army,
reports said, attacked the Apex Mining Co. late Thursday near Masara
village in the town of Maco. Gunmen, numbering more than 50,
disarmed the security guards and carted their weapons, said Col.
Benito Antonio de Leon, spokesman for the Army’s 10th Infantry
Division.
He said the NPA torched several equipment owned
by the mining firm before escaping under cover of darkness.
“Troops are pursuing the rebels and we are awaiting reports from
ground commanders and so far there have been no clashes between
soldiers and rebels,” De Leon told The Manila Times.
Apex is partly owned by an international mining
company, Crew Gold Corp. based in London and has interests in Lefa
Corridor Gold Project in Guinea, Nalunaq Gold Mine in Greenland, and
the Maco Gold Mine where it employs close to 2,000 workers.
De Leon said the motive of the attack is still
unknown, but the NPA has previously raided mining firms that refused
to pay so-called ‘revolutionary taxes.’
“We still don’t know the motive of the
attack. But the rebels had in the past targeted mining firms that
refused to pay extortion money. The weapons, particularly long
firearms such as automatic rifles, used by security guards is also a
magnet for NPA attacks,” he said.
In January, communist insurgents also raided the
Swiss firm, Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), in the town of Tampakan in
South Cotabato. The attackers torched buildings and equipment and
also raided a military post near the mining firm.
The NPA accused SMI of plunder, land grabbing
and destruction of the environment, said the attack was a
punishment. The rebels said the raid was in response to a
longstanding demand of the people to put a stop to the firm’s
operations in the area.
Indigenous tribes were protesting the operation
of the SMI, saying, the mining activities allegedly encroached into
ancestral lands and caused pollution in rivers and streams in
Tampakan, which is considered a watershed area and is believed to be
one of the world’s “best new large-scale copper gold mines,”
with an estimated 11.6 million tons of copper and 14.6 million
ounces of gold.
SMI is partly owned by Xstrata, one of the
world’s largest mining companies based in Switzerland.
Rebel forces have previously raided other mining
firms in Mindanao that refused to pay illegal taxation. The attack
sent a chilling warning to the government that the NPA could carry
out an offensive despite a massive military operation to crush the
growing insurgency problems in Mindanao.
In March last year, rebels also raided a private
coal mining firm, the MG Mining Co., in Raja Kabunsuan village in
Linging, Surigao del Sur.
The Philippines’ largest Muslim rebel group,
Moro Islamic Liberation Front, last month also warned mining firms
to stay away from ancestral lands in Mindanao.
MILF rebels have previously attacked and killed
13 Filipino miners working for the Calgary-based TVI in Zamboanga
del Norte province after they ignored warnings to stop operation in
Mount Canatuan in Siocon town, a sacred altar to an indigenous tribe
called the Subanon whose ancestors settled in the area centuries
ago.
The Philippines is estimated to have at least
$1-trillion unexploited treasure trove of minerals and is promoting
the rejuvenation of the mining sector to boost the economy.
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