Maoist guerrillas burned vehicles, equipment, and housing facilities and stole weapons of guards in two separate attacks on mines operated by private firms in the Philippines, the military said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Active in nearly all of the country's 80 provinces, communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels have long raised funds by extorting businesses and destroying property of those who do not pay, calling the payments they seek "revolutionary taxes". Poor security is cited as one of the reasons why the potentially lucrative mining sector -- the Philippines has an estimated $1 trillion of mineral wealth -- has failed to develop as might have been expected. On Wednesday, a large group of Maoists attacked a mining operation operated by Drill Corp., a sub-contractor of Philex Mining Corporation , on the central island of Negros, burning vehicles, equipment and a housing facility for workers. "The workers and security personnel were not harmed, but the weapons and some personal items were taken by the rebels," army spokesman Major John Andrada told reporters. "We suspect the attack was some form of reprisal from the rebels because the company was ignoring extortion demands." A similar attack on a small-scale mine happened on Tuesday night in Maco town on the southern island of Mindanao. The military said three vehicles were burned, weapons were seized and equipment were damaged during the attack by 50 armed men, some of them wearing army uniforms. "Extortion was behind the attack," said Lieutenant-Colonel Lyndon Paniza. There was no immediate comment from the NPA. The NPA has been fighting for the overthrow of the central government for more than four decades. Peace talks resumed earlier this year after a break of more than six years. In December, Maoists threatened to step up attacks on mines in the Philippines, saying they destroyed the environment and took mineral wealth from poor Filipinos. Last month, the Philippines raised forecasts for mining investments this year to $1.4 billion, up 40 percent from initial estimates to what would be the highest annual investment since the government further opened up the industry in 2005. The poor Southeast Asian country expects its metallic mineral output to rise 24 percent in value to 137.6 billion pesos ($3.2 billion) this year, the highest in at least four years.
