South Cotabato NPAs attack mine firm, Army outpost

KORONADAL City – The New People’s Army (NPA) broke its own pledge to observe a holiday ceasefire when its guerrillas burned two buildings of an Australian-backed mining company and attacked an Army detachment in Tampakan, South Cotabato early yesterday morning.

Police and military authorities in the Socsksargen (South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City) area condemned the NPA for disturbing the peace on New Year’s Day.

“This incident clearly manifests how the NPA uses treachery and deception in order to terrorize the people,” Army spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Torres said.

The attack could be an indication that some NPA units are no longer following orders of their key leaders, Torres said.

Senior Superintendent Robert Kiunisala, South Cotabato police director, said some 30 to 40 rebels, belonging to the NPA’s Front 76 led by a certain Ka Jeffrey, simultaneously attacked the base camp of Saguittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) and the CAFGU-manned detachment of the Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion in Barangay Tablu, Tampakan town at around 3 a.m. yesterday.

The SMI compound was located some 300 meters away from the Army outpost, which itself is 30 kilometers away from the Tampakan town proper.

Kiunisala said the rebels fired 40-mm grenade launchers at the SMI compound, triggering a fire that gutted two buildings.

The other guerrillas peppered the military detachment with bullets, but the militiamen defended their position to prevent the insurgents from seizing their outpost.

“All the security guards of the SMI were reportedly defenseless,” Kiunisala told The STAR in a cellular phone interview.

Partially burned were the quarters and mess hall of the workers of the United Philippine Drillers, a private contracting firm hired by the SMI to conduct copper and gold drillings in the area.

Kiunisala said the company’s security guards failed to prevent the rebels from entering the SMI compound and holding chief security officer Joselito Deles hostage for several minutes.

Kiunisala said the insurgents released Deles unharmed as they fled to the boundary of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Davao del Sur after the 45-minute pre-dawn raid.

No one was injured or killed in the NPA attack, he said.

The Associated Press quoted Kiunisala as saying that two workers were missing but it was not clear if they were taken by the guerrillas.

The rebels, according to AP, seized a pistol, shotgun, a two-way radio set and a laptop computer from the guards.

An SMI official said the damage could reach P2 million to P3 million.

The NPA, according to local officials, may have staged the attack to force the mining firm to heed their extortion demands or get support from tribal folk who have opposed the mining project.

Chief Superintendent Feli­zardo Serapio, Central Minda­nao police director, said his men were assisting Army forces in pursuing the NPA attackers.

SMI’s copper and gold drilling operations straddle the towns of Columbio in Sultan Kudarat, Kiblawan in Davao del Sur, and Tampakan in South Cotabato.

The copper and gold deposits in Tampakan are reportedly among the largest undeveloped reserves in the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions.

Cause-oriented and Church groups have opposed the SMI’s presence in the town. – With AP, Jaime Laude and Ben Serrano