ZTE Mining Deal With Manila Under Scrutiny

MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / September 11, 2008) - Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has questioned the mining investment by the controversial China’s ZTE International in Mount Diwalwal in Compostela Valley province in Mindanao.

Manila has approved the deal, but this was not made public until noted lawyer Harry Roque exposed the agreement between ZTE and the Arroyo government.

Trillanes already filed a resolution Wednesday directing the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations to look into the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) supervised by Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila under special authority from President Gloria Arroyo.

He said the special authority signed on July 12, 2006, designated and authorized Favila to negotiate, conclude and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), for and on behalf of the Republic of the Philippines with ZTE. The MOU was intended as a cooperative agreement between both parties to work together and cooperate in the investment activities.

According to Trillanes, the MOA violates RA 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, which regulates mineral resources development in the country. This governing law takes into consideration local government empowerment, the indigenous cultural communities, equitable sharing of benefits and natural wealth, globalization and environmental sustainability.

He also challenged Secretary Lito Atienza’s contention that the MOA was incomplete without the consent of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). “Secretary Favila entered into this anomalous agreement through the direct authority of President Arroyo herself. The DENR’s approval was not necessary,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes also deemed the exploration, development and operation of mining areas without full State control and supervision as ‘unconstitutional.’

Mudslide Kills 5 In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 10 Jul) – Five people were buried alive after an avalanche of mud and boulders, triggered by heavy rains, buried houses in the southern Philippines, police said on Tuesday.

Police said rescuers have already recovered two corpses – one of them that of a pregnant woman - on the gold-rich Mount Diwalwal in Compostela Valley province.

“Rains have loosed the soil and triggering a mudslide burying several houses. Five people are confirmed dead,” the local police chief, Senior Inspector Antonio Rotol, told reporters.

The landslide occurred late Monday, he said, making the rescue difficult. Villagers were helping authorities dig the remaining bodies, believed that of small-scale miners.

Villagers have built a community on top of the 8,100 hectare mountain which is vulnerable to landslides because below the mountain are mining tunnels. Dozens of miners have been killed in the past because of landslides and collapsed tunnels. (Mindanao Examiner)

RP Troops Hunt Rebels Who Raid Gold Mine Site

Gregorio Rosal, spokesman for the Communist Party of the Philippines, denounces military-imposed food blockade in southern Philippine province of Surigao near where New People's Army rebels raided a gold mining site in Mount Diwalwal. (CPP-NPA Photo/Caption Mindanao Examiner)

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 30 Jan) – Security forces mounted a fresh operation to capture a band of communist insurgents who raided a gold mining site in the southern Philippines, officials said.

Officials said some 40 members of the New People’s Army stormed the site on Mount Diwalwal, a gold rush area near Monkayo town in Compostela Valley province.

The weekend attack left a chilling warning that despite an all-out government offensive against the NPA, rebel forces continue its own campaign.

The raiders destroyed a bulldozer and carted away several weapons owned by security guards. There were no reports of casualties, officials said.

Troops have been deployed in the town to pursue the rebels.

Last week, security forces sealed off the southern Philippine town of Tagbina near Surigao del Sur province where it said had a senior NPA leader, Jorge Madlos, trapped.

Troops also imposed a food blockade on the village of Santa Juana to flush out Madlos and his group, said Gregorio Rosal, spokesman of the outlawed Communist Party of the Philippines.

“The AFP even has the gall to openly boast of its imposition of a 'food restriction as it euphemiscally calls its food blockade," Rosal said.

He said Army Col. Jose Viscarra, commander of the 401st Infantry Brigade, prevented villagers from gathering and carrying with them any food as these might be given to Madlos.

Rosal said denounced the food blockade as "a cruel imposition on the local population and a blatant violation of international humanitarian laws which give premium to the welfare and protection of civilians amid war."

"Emboldened by Gloria Arroyo's all-out war, the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) tramples on the people's human rights with impunity and arrogance in complete disregard of the people's welfare and total contempt of international humanitarian law," Rosal said.

The NPA is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, which is fighting the past three decades for the establishment of a Maoist state in the country.

The United States listed the CPP and NPA, including its political wing, the National Democratic Front as foreign terrorist organizations, on Manila’s prodding. (Mindanao Examiner)