NPA Raiders Hunted In Mindanao

NPA Raiders Hunted In Mindanao
<http://zamboangajournal.blogspot.com/2008/01/rebels-raid-mining-firm-in-southern-rp.html>

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 07, 2008) – Philippine
soldiers mounted fresh operation against communist insurgents who raided
a mining firm in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao, officials said
Friday.

Officials said dozens of New People's Army insurgents attacked the Apex
Mining Company 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 10^th 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 Mindanao
Examiner.

Apex is partly owned by an international mining company, Crew Gold
Corporation based in London and has interests in Lefa Corridor Gold
Project in Guinea; Nalunaq Gold Mine in Greenland; and the Maco Gold
Mine in the Philippines, where it employs close to 2,000 people.

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, use 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 province.
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 environment
destruction and 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 which
refused to pay illegal taxation. The attack sent a chilling warning to
the government that the NPA can carry out 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 Company, in Raja Kabunsuan village in Surigao del Sur's Lingig
town.

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 US$1 trillion unexploited
treasure trove of minerals and is promoting the rejuvenation of the
mining sector to boost the economy and cut its budget deficit and debt.
(Mindanao Examiner)
<http://zamboangajournal.blogspot.com/2008/01/rebels-raid-mining-firm-in-southern-rp.html>

Philippines: Minister threatens campaigners

Philippines: Minister threatens campaigners
16 May 2005

The Philippines' Environment Minister has threatened local and foreign
campaigners with arrest if they continue to 'agitate communities'.



The move is a response to criticisms of TVI, the Canadian mining
company which operates a gold mine on the land of the Subanen tribe.
'They have no right to meddle in the affairs of the country,' said the
Minister. Survival-International

Subanen face eviction

Subanen face eviction
24 February 2005

Several Subanen familes fear eviction from their ancestral land by the
Canadian mining company, TVI. Three families have already received
letters from the company threatening court action and saying, 'We
demand that you leave the company premises.' Nearly 100 families
overall are threatened, including Visayans who have come into the area
in more recent years.



Many Subanen have been campaigning for years to have TVI removed from
their land. The company operates an open-pit gold mine there though
under Philippine law it is illegal for anyone to enter the Subanen's
land without their permission. The latest threats follow a series of
violent attacks on the Subanen, including the wounding of four people
in 2004.



The Subanen Timu-ays (leaders) have said, 'Our land is sacred. It is
the source of our daily needs, and most of all our ancestors have been
buried here. Land is the source of life for all creatures and things.'



The Subanen, or people of the river, are the most numerous of the
Philippine tribal peoples, numbering 300,000. They are scattered across
the mountains of the Zamboanga peninsula, which they believe was given
to them by God. They live in small agricultural communities and
practice shifting cultivation. Over the last century much of their land
has been settled by outsiders; more recently, there has been a further
invasion of logging and mining companies. The Subanen's protests have
been brutally suppressed by the Philippine army, and many Subanen have
been forced to leave their homes. Survival-International

CADT of the Subanen People finally awarded

After more than a decade of fighting for the recognition of their ancestral domains, the Subanen people of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte finally received their Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) last June 6, 2003. In an auspicious affair held at the Siocon town center, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assisted by NCIP Chairperson Atty. Reuben Dasay-Lingating, himself a native Subanen; officially awarded the long awaited CADT to Timuay Boy Anoy, the head of the Siocon Subanen Association, the local Peoples Organization which spearheaded the long struggle to recover and protect the traditional lands of the Indigenous Subanen.
The Subanen ancestral domain has long been the subject of a bitter feud between the local people and the Canadian-based Toronto Ventures, Inc. engaged in the exploration of gold deposits in Siocon. The Subanen people have consistently protested the awarding of a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement in favor of the TVI, claiming that the MPSA was illegally secured as the TVI had not secured a Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the affected communities. Furthermore, the Subanen aside from expressing their fears with the irreparable impact of the TVI activities to the environment, claimed that unwarranted operations of the multi-national company has caused deep divisions and conflict among the once tightly-knit Subanen communities.

It is hoped that the awarding of the Siocon CADT to the Subanen people by no less than the resident of the Philippines lays the framework of the Governments policy towards the current conflict between the Mineral industry and the Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines. PAFID