🇵🇭 Filipino communist militants exploit landslide disaster

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its political wing, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), have blamed a recent deadly landslide in the southern Philippines on the combined of mining companies, the government and the military. 

In what appeared to be a threat to mining companies in the region, the CPP also called on its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) to “drive away foreign environmental plunderers” from the Philippines, adding: “It is imperative for the NPA to strengthen to defend the masses and the environment”.

The landslide occurred on 6 February 2024 near a gold mine in the town of Maco, Davao de Oro province, on the island of Mindanao. It struck following weeks of torrential rain, reportedly killing at least 98 people.

An NDFP statement on 4 March 2024 said the landslide had been caused by the “continued operations of destructive imperialist mining companies in the Philippines”, and appeared to hold Apex Mining, a Philippine gold mining firm that was operating close to the landslide, as being responsible for the incident.

The NDPF suggested Philippine government agencies were “complicit” in the incident because they had provided the legal framework for firms to engage in mining, against the wishes of local communities. 

The CPP also held the Philippine military responsible, accusing it of providing security to Apex at the mine. The CPP warned of further disasters, claiming that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s policies would only welcome further foreign investments and multinational companies into the Philippines to “plunder” the country’s resources. 

The communist rebels have a history of armed opposition to companies that they perceive are stealing the Philippines’ resources. 

For example, in the 2000s, the NPA attacked gold mines in the south of the country that were operated by local and international firms. In more recent years, the CPP urged the NPA to attack Chinese firms in the Philippines, which the rebels accused of plundering Philippine marine resources in the West Philippine Sea.