NPAs torch equipment  of Camarines mining firm

LEGAZPI CITY – Heavily armed New People’s Army (NPA) rebels set on fire the equipment of a mining firm reportedly owned by an Australian national in Labo, Camarines Norte last Wednesday afternoon, the police said.

Superintendent Eliciar Bron, spokesman of the Bicol police command, said about 100 guerrillas swooped down on the site of El Dore Mining Corp. in Barangay Dumangmang at around 3:30 p.m. and immediately set on fire four vehicles, drilling equipment and a generator set.

The rebels carted away computers and the cellular phones of the firm’s employees as they fled toward a mountainous area near the mining site.

A certain Reynaldo Santos, driver of Australian Timothy Culver, owner of El Dore, reported the attack to the Labo police.

“This is part of the rebels’ extortion activities to discourage foreign investors from developing the country’s mining industry,” Bron said. – Celso Amo, James Mananghaya