Philippines training militias to protect mines from rebels

Philippine troops will train private militias to protect foreign mining firms and other companies operating in rural areas from communist rebel attacks, the armed forces chief said.

A soldier would be assigned to each of the local militia groups that would be mainly deployed to mining companies under threat from the New People's Army (NPA).

The communist rebels have vowed to attack multinational firms given mining concessions when the sector was opened up to foreign investors in 2005.

General Hermogenes Esperon said the armed forces, which are already fighting Islamic and communist rebel groups, simply could not spare regular troops to provide 24-hour security to firms that come under attack.

"Instead of us physically contributing our men to the companies, it's them coming up with their guards and getting training, assistance from us," Esperon told foreign correspondents at a briefing late Monday night.

Mining companies would provide the recruits to be screened, trained over three months and eventually armed by the military.

Militiamen are usually recruited from among the local unemployed men and school leavers in the area of a mining concession.

To ensure discipline, an army "cadre" would live among them in the mining compounds with the companies paying their daily allowance of 90 pesos (about two dollars).

The Philippine armed forces are spread out over large areas fighting Islamic militants in the south and NPA guerrillas in the central and northern areas. Earlier this month, the government advised mining companies to beef up security after the NPA sabotaged a major copper project of global mining outfit Xstrata on the southern island of Mindanao.

The NPA set fire to the Xstrata base camp at its Tampakan exploration project and vowed to launch similar attacks against other foreign-run mines.The attack was not an isolated incident. NPA rebels are known to burn down telecommunication and transmission lines or abduct and harm workers of firms who refuse to pay what they call "revolutionary taxes."

Esperon on Monday vowed to significantly diminish the NPA ranks by the time he steps down in May. He said the NPA ranks have dropped to only about 5,700 regular fighters in 2007 from a high of 12,000 between 2002 and 2006.

Manila, Tuesday, AFP