Updated 19:15:01 (Mla time)
Melvin Gascon
Northern Luzon Bureau
http://services.inquirer.net/express/07/08/29/html_output/xmlhtml/20070829-85417-xml.html
BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya -- Scores of tribal men and women were injured as paramilitary forces clashed with villagers in upland Kasibu town who were manning a barricade to prevent the entry of a mining company in the area Wednesday afternoon.
In a phone interview from the site, Sister Maria Eden Orlino, directress of the church-based Diocesan Social Action Commission here, said the victims, many of them women, sustained bruises and sprains as they were dragged by workers of Oxiana Philippines and members of the Citizens’ Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) from the path of a bulldozer that was trying to breach the barricade at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The commotion, Orlino said, was triggered by the refusal of the picketers to clear the muddy mountain road for the passage of the bulldozer, which was to be used to clear the land at OPI's exploration site in Pao village.
The violence was quelled, Orlino said, due to the timely intervention of about 120 policemen deployed to the area for Thursday's implementation of a court order prohibiting the villagers from blocking OPI's equipment.
"It was such a sorry sight to see the protesters, especially the women, ending up with cuts and bruises, and torn clothes. Is this what government really wants to happen to our country?" she said.
An estimated 1,000 residents from six adjoining villages in Kasibu have been guarding the barricade in Paquet village to show their opposition to OPI's planned mining exploration.
The DSAC directress called on provincial officials to immediately intervene and mediate a dialogue among parties involved in the dispute to prevent the possible loss of lives due to the mining controversy.
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