No foreign investors leaving following rebel raid–Aquino

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III said Wednesday that he did not think foreign investors would pull out of the country in the wake of the recent New People’s Army (NPA) raid on mining facilities in Claver, Surigao del Norte.

Speaking to the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Makati, President Aquino said he had met only the other day with officials of Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., the partner of Nickel Asia Corp., which owns Taganito Mining Corp., whose facilities were attacked by the rebels.

The officials requested that security be beefed up in their areas of operations, according to the President, who added he had assured the Sumitomo officials that corrective measures were being undertaken.

“They assured us they have no intention of pulling out… If the main victim of the whole issue has not lacked interest, I do not foresee any other foreign investors (pulling out),” Mr. Aquino said.

Last October 3, the communist rebels burned down  dump trucks, backhoes,  barges and a guest house at the Nickel Asia facilities in Claver, police and military officials said. The rebels also seized several guns from private security guards and smashed computers in offices.