By Media Mindanao News Service
News Digest Volume 1, August 1987-July 1988 Posted by Davao Today
MAKILALA, North Cotabato (MMNS/August 15, 1987) — Twelve tons of processed rubber and three tunnel dryers estimated to worth P1 million were razed to the ground when an “accidental” fire hit Pioneer Rubber Processing Plant (PRPP) August 11 in barangay Bagong Silang this town.
Phil Jamero, chief of the Fire Service Division here, said that the fire started from PRPP’s artificial tunnel dryer where the hanged crepe rubber were located. He dismissed earlier reports that the rebels were responsible for the fire.
“It was purely accidental,” said Jamero even as he described the place as highly critical area.
Bagong Silang, it can be recalled, was the same place where some 16 people, including militiamen, were killed during an ambush May 15 believed staged by the leftist rebels.
Engr. Bonifacio Sauseng, resident manager of the plant corroborated the findings of Jamero. Sauseng said that even through rebel presence can be attested in the area, “they (just) pass by and do not disrupt the operation of the plant.”
Pioneer Rubber Processing Plant, owned by a Chinese businessman Amado Dee, is engaged in the buying of rubber cup lumps and is the first plant caught by fire this year. Sauseng however said plant operation is not hampered since the main processing building was only slightly affected.
Meanwhile, in Matalam, some 30 kilometers northwest from here, about 3,000 residents, mostly Muslims, crowd in various evacuation centers following an encounter August 7 between two Moro factions, the MILF and MNLF.
OIC Mayor Dedes Prado of Matalam told MMNS that the conflict is a result of a “tug-of-war for supremacy” in the area. Matalam he said is very potential for the political and economical expansion of any rebel forces.
“Each faction is claiming supremacy and leadership in the area and the civilians where very much affected,” said Predo.
Prado also disclosed that seven MILF rebels were killed and an MILF rebel was wounded during the encounter. He claimed that he has tried to negotiate with the leaders of both factions but to no avail.
He added that the town’s treasury is also affected since it is harvest season. He said the barangays affected are among the main sources of income of Matalam.
OIC Prado also bewailed military inaction. “As I see it, the military is very lax in dealing with the problem. Upto now we are still waiting for their action,” said Prado.
Informed sources said, that the military authorities in the area are hesitant to intervene in the conflict for fear of violating the truce entered by the MNLF with the national government and the MILF with the national authorities in the region. (Media Mindanao News Service News Digest Volume 1, August 1987-July 1988 Posted by Davao Today)
