3 Surigao police officials sacked after NPA attack on mining sites

Three ranking police officials in Surigao del Norte province in Mindanao were ordered relieved from their posts following Monday's attacks on three mining sites there by communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels. Sacked were Senior Superintendent Emmanuel Talento, head of the Surigao del Norte police; Superintendent Rudy Cuyop, public safety battalion commander in the area; and Senior Inspector Diomedes Cuadra, chief of police in Claver town where the mining sites were located. The order came from Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome in Manila. Ten dump trucks, eight backhoes, two barges and a guest house were burned in the attacks perpetrated by the NPA's Guerrilla Front 16, 30 and 21, according to the military. First to be attacked was the Taganito Mining Corp at Taganito village in Claver town at around 9 a.m. Twenty minutes later, the rebels attacked the 4K Mining at Cadiano village, also in Claver. At around 12:30 p.m., a separate NPA group raided the Thpal Mining, near the compound of the Taganito Mining Corp., its sister company. The attack prompted Nickel Asia Corp., the Philippines' largest nickel producer, to suspend mining operations and nickel ore loading activities at its Taganito Mining Corp unit following Monday's attack. Taganito is the biggest of the four mines of Nickel Asia, partly owned by Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd . Malacañang has condemned what it described as "atrocities" committed by the NPA rebels on the mining firms. - KBK, GMA News