Joma charged for attacks on Isabela mining sites

MANILA, Philippines — Police have filed charges against Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison and nine suspected New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas in connection with the attacks on mining sites in Isabela province.

The charges against Sison and his co-accused were filed before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Ilagan City on Monday, according to Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

These cases were for violation of Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crime Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity, and RA 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Aside from Sison, the other respondents were identified as Joseph
Bautista, Lourdes Bulan, Rey Busania, Garry Cantuba, Danny Soria and Raffy Valencia as well as three others who use the aliases Banong, Buding and Shai, all of the NPA’s Reynaldo Pinon Command Gitnang Isabela.

Ferro said the filing of cases against Sison and the guerrillas was a manifestation of the CIDG’s legal offensives against communist rebels.

“It is largely about addressing the root causes of insurgencies and armed conflict by prioritizing and harmonizing the delivery of the government’s basic services and social development,” Ferro said.

The cases stemmed from the attacks on the mining sites operated by the ASD Corp. and Nickel Asia General Corp. in Barangay Dimaluade in Dinapigue town on Oct.
28, 2015.

Ferro said eight suspected NPA rebels held the employees at gunpoint and burned all equipment, vehicles and bunkhouses with an estimated value of P185.3 million.

Police said extortion was the motive for the attacks.