BLOODY DISPUTE

Guard dies in bloody mining dispute
By Jonas Cabiles Soltes

DAET, Camarines Norte—Investigators on Tuesday said that the shooting incident on Saturday in a Dawahan mining site in Barangay Nakalaya in Jose Panganiban town could have been the result of an existing dispute between the owner of the iron and copper mining site and a mining corporation.

But they are yet to establish that the 27 armed men who barged into the premises of the mining site operated by Investwell Group of Companies (IGC) have connections with the owners of the mining site, the heirs of Isabelo F. Fonacier.

Very early on Saturday, at about 3 a.m., the 27 men armed both with long and short firearms, who claim to be members of Junmar Security Agency, barged into the mining site located in the same village, said a report from the Camarines Norte Police Office (CNPO).

“The men rushed up three security posts of the mining site,” said Senior Inspector Jason Colico, chief of Jose Panganiban police.

The eight security guards manning three posts were disarmed, robbed, and hogtied by the assailants, said Colico.

Some of the attackers, Colico said, fired upon post number 2, killing security guard Ranel Evangelista, 26, of Barangay Tawig in Paracale, this province. Evangelista sustained gunshot wound in the hip.

Colico said that some of the guards of the mining site were able to escape but two others were disarmed of their caliber .38 and also hogtied.

Responding teams from the CNPO were able to apprehend 24 of the suspects and recovered from them seven shotguns, a KG9 assault pistol, and four caliber. 38 revolvers.

The apprehended suspects are now under the custody of CNPO, which is readying charges against them. They would undergo paraffin test.

Checkpoints were set up in all exit points of Jose Panganiban to pursue other suspects who remain at large.

Gov. Edgardo Tallado said there had been an existing conflict between the Fonacier heirs, who are the owners of mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) that covers 196-hectare mining site in Sitio Dawahan, and IGC, a Philippine mining corporation.

The MPSA is registered with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.

Records show that the two parties forged a mine operating agreement (MOA) in 2010, in which the IGC was allowed to operate in the mining site by the Fonacier heirs, who are the registered “developers” of the said mine site.

“But now, the Fonacier heirs want to unilaterally terminate the MOA. The IGC is crying foul because it claims that the heirs have breached the agreement,” Tallado said.

The MOA says that “neither party can withdraw from the agreement without the prior and written consent of both parties.”

Tallado said that the dispute reached his office because the mining in the Dawahan site was considered a small-scale operation that needed the approval of the provincial government.

“I have advised them to bring their contentions to the Court,” said Tallado, referring to the two parties.

MOA.