The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) extends its deepest sympathies to the families, relatives and friends of the scores of victims of the deadly landslide that buried dozens of homes and vehicles in Zone 1, Barangay Masara, in Maco town, Davao de Oro last night. According to reports, at least seven people died, while close to 50 remain missing and are believed buried in the mud.

The Maco disaster is only the latest of a series of mudslides and flooding in various parts of Davao de Oro and other parts of the Davao Region, in the wake of several weeks of torrential rains. The disaster is clearly the direct result of the massive destruction of forests and mountains that characterize large parts of Mindanao, especially Davao de Oro and other Davao provinces.

Barangay Masara forms part of the area of mining operations of the Apex Mining Company, a company owned mainly by Marcos crony Enrique Razon, one of the biggest bourgeois comprador and among the top billionaire.

The Apex Mining operates open pit mines in the area. Zone 1 is a community of workers employed by Apex. Despite dangerous conditions resulting from weeks of rains, no precautions were made to evacuate the community. In fact, work in the Apex mines were not suspended. We recall that in 2016, the operations of the Apex Mining was ordered suspended by the late Sec. Gina Lopez of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The Party calls on the Filipino people to demand justice for the victims of the Maco landslide and the massive floods in Mindanao, and demand a stop to destructive mining operations. The Filipino people must hold the Marcos regime ultimately responsible for its policy of deregulating mining and allowing these companies all freedom to plunder the country’s natural resources.

The Party holds the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) equally responsible for the Maco disaster, for serving as security force of the Apex Mining company. Gross human rights violations have been committed by the AFP in Maco in the course of suppressing communities opposed to the Apex mining operations, especially against Lumad people of Mindanao.

In the face of the disaster at Maco and the massive floods in the Davao region, the Filipino people must unite to demand an immediate halt to all mining operations, as well as the expansion of plantation operations, that cause massive damage to the environment, and put the lives and livelihood of millions of people in danger.