Once again there has been a violent incident at Xstrata’s Tampakan copper-gold project over the Christmas holiday period. This time security operatives, working for an affiliate of UK-based Securicor, have been injured in an armed attack on company offices.
Although the attack was initially attributed to the communist New People’s Army (NPA), once again the source of conflict appears to be the resistance of local people to the mining project. Members of the B’laan tribe have frequently asserted their right to defend themselves against company encroachment on their land (even if this is less well reported than NPA violence and extortion).
This incident follows a 4-day march by local activists against the project, and more fall-out from the continuing battle between the local & national government over whether the province’s ban on open-cast mining will apply to the project.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10621.