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DND Chief told: Soldiers guarding mining firms should quit service

The militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusan Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Sunday said soldiers commissioned to provide security to mining companies or private firms should quit from military service, saying it would be illegal, immoral and unethical for government troops to serve private interest in the name of public service.

In a press statement, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said it is grossly insulting to Filipino taxpayers, since public funds are used to pay soldiers’ salaries, yet they do not serve national interest, and instead act as witting army of profit-starved mining companies in the country.

“The national government is spending billions of taxpayers’ money to protect the selfish interest of transnational mining firms. This is not only illegal, this is condemnable to the highest order,” Hicap said.

The militant group issued the reaction after defense secretary Teodoro yesterday justified the deployment of government troops to provide security to mining companies and private firms, saying there are guidelines for Special Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit Active Auxiliary or SCAA, as long as it is in pursuit of regulation.

The military confirmed the tie up of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division and the DMCI Mining Corp. to protect at least 3,700 hectares of ore-rich land in Sta.Cruz, Zambales. The arrangement was contained in a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed in July 2007, saw the Army deploying an officer, 11 soldiers and 75 SCAA personnel to the mining area of DMCIMC’s partners—Fil Asian Strategic Resources Properties Corp. and CRAU Mineral Resources Corp.- in the uplands of Sta.Cruz and in nearby Candelaria, Zambales.

Pamalakaya said Secretary Teodoro should instead nullify the MOA between the mining firm and the 7th Infantry Division, and send the military personnel back to their barracks.

“The main objective of the Army is to protect the transnational clients of Malacañang from wholesale condemnation and community-based protest of the people who will be affected by these sell outs of national patrimony and buffet style offering of the country’s resources to Palace multinational mining clients,” Pamalakaya’s Hicap added.

The militant group said the employment of military and para-military units are not only prevalent in upland mining. Pamalakaya said the government is also deploying government troops in offshore mining to stop legitimate protest or prevent fishermen from fishing near sites of oil and gas explorations across the country.

The group said government soldiers and policemen are tapped to provide security to oil drilling explorations in Tañon Strait, a protected seascape separating the island provinces of Cebu and Negros, which is currently being mined for possible oil deposits and in Cebu-Bohol Strait, linking the provinces of Cebu and Bohol.

Pamalakaya said the deployment of battalions of marines in Eastern Palawan was also meant to provide security to oil and gas exploration activities of Australian companies. The group said there are 34 service contracts all over the country as far as oil and gas exploration activities are concerned, and that the government has been tasked to provide security to all these offshore mining activities.

“While the Constitution says the Armed Forces of the Philippines should serve as protector of the people, the military is actually the oppressor of the people and defender of transnational interests oppressing the people,” the group said. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:51 | link | comments |

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