Mining firm pulls out from South Cotabato

COTABATO CITY – The British mining firm Crew Gold Corp. (CGC) has shut down its coal exploration project in South Cotabato due to the church-led opposition to its operation.

The company started last year its studies on coal deposits in Lake Sebu town, in partnership with local firm Daguma Agro Minerals Inc.

Daguma consultant geologist Levitico Toquero was quoted yesterday by Mindanao Cross, a weekly Catholic newspaper here, as saying that the CGC was disappointed by the clamor for its pullout and thus, decided to shut down its operation in Lake Sebu, a known sanctuary of the Tibolis. – John Unson

Shabu-making tools seized in Bulacan raid

SAN RAFAEL, Bulacan – A joint police team seized laboratory equipment worth millions of pesos and capable of producing at least 100 kilos of shabu in three hours, here yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Asher Dolina, acting Bulacan police director, said the raiding team, which included the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Force, swooped down on a house owned by one Reynaldo Balanquit at Buenavista Park subdivision in Barangay Capihan here.

Found inside the house were Taiwan-made laboratory equipment such as an oil scrubber and a mixer/dryer. – Dino Balabo, Ric Sapnu