Japanese investors have assured President Aquino of continued mining investments in the Philippines despite the recent attacks of communist rebels on mining operations in Surigao del Norte.
Mr. Aquino told members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines on Wednesday that he obtained the assurance from executives of Sumitomo Philippines, which has stakes in one of the mining companies hit by the rebels earlier this month, during a meeting on Tuesday.
“They assured us that they have no intentions of pulling out….So if that main, shall we say, victim of this whole issue has not indicated a lack of interest or lessening of interest, then perhaps I don’t foresee any other foreign investors undertaking the same,” the President said.
The Sumitomo executives, led by its president, only asked for more security in their areas of operations, for if another attack happens, the Japanese executive would be forced to resign, he said.
“He said, ‘I promise, we will not remove our investment. I promised our stockholders that this is an isolated incident; the damage wasn’t that severe. Please help us for the next 30 years,’” Mr. Aquino said, quoting the Sumitomo executive.
Sumitomo’s Taganito plant, which was attacked by the rebels, is expected to run for 30 years.
The President also allayed concerns the military’s move to train special Citizen Armed Force Geographical Units (Cafgus) to secure mining operations could lead to move private armies.
Mr. Aquino said the Cafgus will be under the supervision of the Armed Forces and the National Police, and not private citizens.
“Special Cafgus will be territory-based, will be subject to all the rules and regulations, will be under the watchful gaze of our Commission on Human Rights Chairman Etta Rosales, and we do not foresee any abuses from them but rather they will augment the abilities of our security forces to preserve peace and order in our country,” he said.
He noted that the country only has 250,000 men in uniform guarding close to 100 million Filipinos.
The President also downplayed the threats by the New People’s Army to conduct more attacks against mining firms in Surigao del Norte if they fail to pay revolutionary taxes to the rebels.
“Propaganda versus reality is very, very different. There are less and less areas that they are able to undertake such activities. In fact, they have to traverse on the breadth of Mindanao to gain sufficient forces to do what they did and that, of course, is also a failure on our part not being able to detect such a sizable number. That is being corrected at the present time,” he said.
