Fate of detained Chinese miners in Zambales known Sept. 18

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo on Tuesday said the “illegal" Chinese miners currently in custody of the Zambales police will know in three weeks’ time if they would be released or remain in detention. At a press conference in Quezon City, Robredo clarified that the miners, who have been in police custody since July 27, were not arrested, and that the mining site where they were working had not been taken over by the police. “May agreement po na [There is already an agreement that] this will be settled on or before September 18," he said. The miners, numbering about 80, were rounded up during a raid on the chromite mining site owned by Filipino firm Compania Minera Tubajon in Masinloc town, north of Manila, according to earlier reports. Government authorities said the mining firm failed to secure concessional rights to the area and even used private armed men to shield the premises. Robredo said he would review all the documents about the Chinese workers that he received Tuesday morning. He appealed to the public not to “politicize" the incident, maintaining that the police did not violate any rules when they raided the site and placed the Chinese nationals under their custody. He said the raid was carried out by virtue of an order issued by Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane, former head of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The local police had already been coordinating with the Bureau of Immigration for the “appropriate actions" to be taken against the Chinese miners. Officials from the mining firm as well as the Chinese workers had all refused to comment on the incident. Reports said the owner of the Compania Minera Tubajon was a former governor and that the firm was said to be illegally exporting mineral ores to China. - Mark Dalan Merueñas/KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV