Suspected rebels torch sand mining equipment in Cagayan

IN THIS file photo taken in August 2013, a Chinese tugboat and a cargo vessel scour the riverbed of the Aparri delta in Punta village in Aparri town, Cagayan province, in what residents and antimining advocates claim to be illegal black sand mining operations disguised as dredging activities. MELVIN GASCON/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya— Suspected communist rebels on Monday burned two barges and other heavy equipment used by a Chinese company in its black sand extraction and dredging activities in Lal-lo town in Cagayan province, police said.

Chief Insp. Jacinto Tuddao, Lal-lo police chief, said the group set on fire two vessels and other equipment, including a backhoe, pay loader and dump truck, at a black sand mining processing site in Catayauan village at 3 a.m.

The suspects, whom police and local officials believe to be members of the New People’s Army, also torched the bunkhouse in the firm’s processing site on the banks of Cagayan River.

“They doused gasoline on the vessels and equipment before setting these on fire. We have recovered two empty 4-liter containers from the scene,” Tuddao said.

San You’s presence in Lal-lo has been an object of controversy, with local government officials defending the dredging agreement with the company. The agreement, local officials said, was the only solution to the problem of heavy siltation along Cagayan River.

They said the dredging was being carried out with no expense to the local government. In return, San You is allowed to extract the magnetite (black sand) of the soil dredged from the riverbed as a form of compensation.

But civil society and other groups led by the Catholic Church have opposed the project, saying the supposed dredging activities there were being used as a disguise for illegal black sand mining operations.

Lal-lo Mayor Florante Pascual said about 50 armed men wearing camouflage uniforms stormed the processing plant of San You.

“[The attackers] came from all directions, with some of them approaching from the river by boat. It was a swift attack, with the suspects taking separate escape routes, very much like how they emerged,” Pascual said.

He said the other suspects commandeered a Toyota Revo from the site. Police found the vehicle abandoned in San Mariano village, near the unfinished Lal-lo international airport.

Pascual said he was not discounting the possibility that the attack was an attempt by the suspects to extort from the company.

“This is unfortunate because despite all our efforts to invite investors, we have not been able to fully protect them,” he said.  Melvin Gascon, Inquirer Northern Luzon