Cagayan anti-mine activists' killings scored

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines –  Environmental activists expressed alarm over the series of killings of known anti-mining crusaders in Cagayan, the latest of which took place on the eve of the election against a local leader of the Alyansa Tigil Muna.

“We are calling the attention of the government law enforcement agencies to fasttrack the investigations in these incidents to help the victims of the brutal killings achieve justice the soonest,” said ATM national coordinator Jaybee Garganera.

The anti-mining group’s statement came following the killing of Conrado Buenaflor, a fierce anti-mining leader, who was gunned down by a still unknown gunman in front of his residence at Leron village in northern Buguey town on May 9, or a day before the recently concluded polls.

Buguey town police head Chief Inspector Edward Guzman said they are still investigating Buenaflor’s slay along with the other killing incidents involving anti-mining leaders and members. He, however, said that Buenaflor’s murder could be politically related with partisan armed groups as the suspected perpetrators.

Buenaflor had been a relentless critic of the provincial government-backed controversial magnetite or black sand mining along the town’s coastline. He was the fourth anti-mining leader in Buguey, to be slain since November last year.  

Buenaflor’s slay came barely three months after another anti-mining leader Gensun Agustin, 30, was also gunned down along a farm road in the town’s Barangay Camalategan on March 1.

Also on Nov. 30, two members of the town’s anti-mining task force, Pedrito Tabaco and brother-in-law Alfredo Rabit, were shot dead while on board a motorcycle on their way home to Leron village.

The victims were all identified with suspended Buguey town Mayor Ignacio Taruc, also a rabid anti-mining critic, with Agustin acting as the mayor’s close aide and spokesman.

Taruc, who has been on the run following the court’s issuance of an arrest warrant against him for arson charges days before the start of the local campaign period, ran but lost to Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile’s son, returning Rep. Juan “Jack” Ponce Enrile Jr., for Cagayan’s first congressional district post.

The young Enrile also expressed condemnation over these killings and other violence taking place in their area.

The ATM asked authorities to “diligently take extra precautions in keeping the peace and order in areas with mining controversies,” such as the mineral-rich Buguey town, also a consistent election hotspot due to previous election-related violence.