Protect yourselves, miners told

Salvador Panelo

Mining firms which refuse to pay revolutionary taxes should beef up their security forces to protect their operations from communist insurgents, according to the President’s chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo.

President Rodrigo Duterte had warned that he would shut down businesses, including mining firms, that pay revolutionary taxes to the New People’s Army (NPA) because the funds are aiding the group’s operations.

The government is also set to run after those giving money to the NPA especially after Mr. Duterte classified the group as a terrorist organization along with the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Panelo, in a radio interview, said what the miners should do is to step up security around their operations.

He said he had talked to a big mining firm which had been able to get an authorization from the military to organize its own group similar to the Citizens Armed Forces Geographical Unit.  —LEILA B. SALAVERRIA