Mining firm's equipment set alight in Palawan town

(Updated 4:45 p.m.) At least six armed men set alight a mining company's backhoe in Sofronio Española town in Palawan on Sunday afternoon, an Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson said Monday. 1Lt. Anne Abrigo of the Western Command said the men intercepted eight employees of the Citi Mining Corporation at Sitio Malalag in Barangay Punang at around 1 p.m. The men then set on fire a Volvo backhoe parked nearby. “They [the employees] were held at gunpoint…They were not harmed. The suspects burned [the backhoe] and left,” she said. According to Abrigo, the mining company had earlier reported receiving an extortion demand from the New People's Army. “This might be a retribution because [the company] refused to pay 'revolutionary tax'…We are looking at possible retribution by the CPP/NPA because they are extorting from the company which refused to give in,” Abrigo said. However, she added that at this point "nothing is final" as investigations are continuing. “Another angle that we are looking into is that this was done by environmentalists who are mad at the mining company,” she said. Abrigo later amended her statement to change the word "environmentalists" to the term "anti-mining citizens." Abrigo added that security has been heightened in the area. — BM, GMA News