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PRESS RELEASE
Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines
Mining firm punished for landgrabbing, plunder--CPP
January 2, 2008
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today said the
raid conducted yesterday by the New People's Army (NPA) against
Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) in Tampakan town, South Cotabato had the
singular objective of punishing the giant Swiss mining firm for land
grabbing, plunder and environmental destruction in response to a
longstanding demand of the people to put a stop to the firm’s
operations in the area.
CPP spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal explained that the
punitive raid against the mining firm was timed precisely on the
holiday when its mining operations were at a standstill and its workers
and employees were out on a holiday break to ensure none of them would
be hurt in the raid. No civilian was hurt in the raid.
The NPA guerrillas seized a pistol, a shotgun, a two-way radio
set from the guards during the raid. They also fired deterrent shots at
a nearby detachment of the Philippine Army in order to prevent the
government forces from coming to the defense of the mining firm they
are serving and in order to allow the unhampered withdrawal of the NPA
forces.
“Since a ceasefire was in effect, the NPA unit did not pursue a
tactical offensive against the Army troops in Tampacan. But those
fascist troops have crimes against the people to pay for, and the NPA
will punish them in due time when a ceasefire is not in effect.”
The CPP spokesperson said that “Yesterday's raid against SMI is
an important milestone in the effort to put a stop to the firm’s
destructive and plunderous mining operations, defend the ancestral
domain of the B'laan tribe; protect the environmental balance of the
Liguasan Marsh and the water supply of South Cotabato, North Cotabato,
Sultan Kudarat and General Santos City areas; and resist the Arroyo
regime's campaign to auction off the country's natural resources to big
foreign capitalists.”
Rosal said mining operations in Tampacan have been vigorously
opposed by the people since the 1990s when these were being conducted
by the Western Mining Corporation (WMC), which was later renamed
Tampakan Mineral Resources Corporation. In 2002, SMI took over the WMC
operations after these were halted in the face of strong opposition by
the townspeople.
Rosal said that “The local folk are resisting the plans of SMI
to start open pit mining operations by 2010 in the forested villages of
Bong Mal, Tablu, Danlag and Folu Bato. Open pit mining operations are
considered as among the most ecologically destructive method of mining
as this wipe out entire forests and watershed areas.”
SMI's preliminary feasibility studies estimates the Tampakan
mine site 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 company based in Switzerland.
Rosal said the raid against the SMI is in accordance with the
general directive of the CPP to carry out offensive operations against
big foreign mining firms that the Arroyo regime brings into the country
to plunder Philippine natural resources. “The Arroyo regime lets big
foreign mining companies siphon out billions of dollars worth of
Philippine natural resources to the further detriment of the people's
livelihood and the the environment.”
“As the people intensify their struggle to assert national
patrimony against the rapacity of foreign monopoly capitalists, the New
People's Army will carry out more and more punitive actions in response
to the people's demands to stop the unbridled rapacious and destructive
operations of big foreign mining companies.”
Reference:
Marco Valbuena
Media Officer
Cellphone Numbers: 09179776392 :: 09282242061
E-mail:[email protected]
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