Rebels belonging to Comval-Davao Gulf Subregional Command-New People’s Army (NPA) gutted down RAM Aggregates, Inc., a nickel mining company in the Banay-Banay town’s barangay of Puntalinao, confiscating several items of mining and military equipment at around 4 AM on January 4.
In a statement, NPA-Southern Mindanao Spokesperson Rigoberto F. Sanchez said the leftist group is following the Communist Party of the Philippines’ opposition against large-scale operated mining activities in the area, to which the group took away 6 backhoes, a bulldozer, and dump truck from the nickel miner.
“The sanction is in line with the Communist Party of the Philippines’ policy of protecting the environment by destroying destructive foreign large-scale mining companies, and those firms which engage in foreign-owned economic activities which sap the country’s natural resources while victimising workers and peasants,” Sanchez said.
Security provided by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), along with the company’s private security, were “scampered away” from the mined-out area.
The sanction also impounded its military paraphernalia including a Garand rifle with sniper’s scope, an M79 grenade launcher, and a hundred rounds of assorted ammunition, among others.
Moreover, the NPA division alleges RAM for unfair treatment of its workers (“keeping wages at a pittance”) as well as the degradation of Mindanao’s resources and environment, in general.
The raid, Sanchez stressed, was also a direct charge against the US-Duterte regime’s push towards federalism “through a constituent assembly in order to open the country for full-scale imperialist plunder.”
Sources: 1, 2
Photo courtesy of BusinessWorld Online
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