Tribal attacks on mine firm rising, says mayor

DIGOS CITY—Attacks by armed members of the B’laan tribe on a foreign mining firm and its workers are increasing, according to authorities.

Some members of the B’laan tribe are fighting the entry of Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), a subsidiary of Australian mining firm Xstrata, into what tribe leaders said was the tribe’s ancestral domain.

The latest attack came on Thursday, prompting the mayor of Kiblawan, Davao del Sur, to ask police to launch a manhunt for members of the B’laan tribe identified as Dagil, Batas and Kitari Capion.

The Capion brothers were tagged by police as behind the ambush and killing of Supt.

Villamendo Hectin, a security consultant of SMI, and PO2 Rey Tonso.

Hectin and Tonso were escorting a water tanker when ambushed and gunned down allegedly by the B’laan men.

“We have to initiate drastic action against these people because they have been giving us headaches for a long time now,” said Kiblawan Mayor Marivic Diamante.

Thursday’s ambush was the latest in a series of attacks blamed on the B’laan men.

Estimates about the group’s real strength vary but police said it was composed of at least 20 men.

On Monday, security guard Jemer Malumpong was manning his post in Barangay Tacub when attacked and killed by suspected B’laans, according to Senior Supt. Ronaldo Llanera, Davao del Sur police chief.

In February this year, an SMI employee was also ambushed but survived the attack.

In March last year, three persons were also killed in an ambush by men believed to be B’laans in Tampakan, South Cotabato, site of SMI’s main area of operation.

Victims

The victims were workers of Eve Construction, which is involved in SMI’s pre-mining extraction operations.

In November last year, the group allegedly led by Batas Capion attacked an SMI encampment in Barangay Tablu, also in Tampakan, and disarmed five guards.

Lt. Col. Alexis Noel Bravo, head of the Army’s 27th Infantry Battalion, was then quoted as saying the guards were caught by surprise when Capion and 14 followers attacked the camp.

Rita Dialang, a sister of the Capion brothers, said her brothers were not involved in banditry.

She said her brothers were making a “sacrifice in defense of the tribe’s ancestral land and in defense of our way of life.”

Dialang cited as example her brother Dagil’s recent attack against SMI.

“Dagil doesn’t want SMI to intrude into his land. But SMI did not respect his right,” she said.

“If Dagil was selfish and was only thinking of his own welfare, he will not oppose Xstrata-SMI. But he is a man of principle and he could not swallow what the mining company is doing to his tribe,” Dialang said.

She said Dagil owns a corn farm and has no reason to engage in banditry.

Forest

“The forest, to us, is like a vast market. We get everything we need there. It is our hunting ground, our drugstore, our farmland and our sanctuary. Destroy the forest and you also destroy our lives,” Dialang said.

She said the B’laans have banded to form Kalgad, which means “diligence” and “persistence,” in their fight against SMI.

Dagil, she said, would never surrender as long as Xstrata-SMI continues to operate in the area.

Dialang urged SMI to withdraw and stop dividing the B’laans.

“We demand the total pullout of Xstrata-SMI from our ancestral lands. We will continue opposing any mining company that will enter our land. We’ve been victims of empty promises by several logging and mining companies,” she said.  Reports from Orlando Dinoy, Eldie Aguirre and Aquiles Zonio, Inquirer Mindanao