Peace Update: PHL President Benigno Aquino called an emergency security meeting and ordered beefed up security in the mining sector

Communists in Philippines Raid Mining Facilities in South | Asia | English: "The president’s spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, says the attacks on the mines did not help matters. “It undermines the peace process. On our end, we have been doing confidence-building measures and on the side of the rebels, they’ve been doing confidence-erosion measures,” says Lacierda.

The leftist group’s head peace negotiator Luis Jalandoni called it a “positive action.” “Such action should give a signal to the government of Aquino that his mining policies which go for investments but do not regard properly the livelihood and the health and welfare of the indigenous communities and do not give proper attention to the protection of the environment that he should consider changing it,” he said. Jalandoni says the leftists’ proposal in peace negotiations includes a solution to their demand for more equitable economic benefits from the region’s natural resources.
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Note: The president has been touting the mining potential in the southern island of Mindanao, which is currently worth about $3.8 billion. The government projects increased mining investment could reach $18 billion by 2016. But this could only happen if the region is stable, which is why the Aquino administration has been pushing peace negotiations with the leftists.
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