China mining black sand in Zambales? AFP keeps watch

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) issued a subpoena for Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday to explain her controversial remarks about allegedly planning an assassination in the event of her death.

- MICHAEL PUNONGBAYAN

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is keeping a tight watch over possible black sand mining in Zambales, allegedly by the Chinese who might be using its iron and mineral content for military technology purposes.

"We have received these reports and have been monitoring them," Philippine Navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea (WPS) Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad told reporters yesterday.

"We are taking this very seriously, considering that black sand and rare earth minerals have military technology applications," he added.

But Trinidad said the military is deferring to the authority of appropriate regulatory and law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over the matter.

"What is more concerning there is not only the extraction of black sand and, if confirmed, the dumping in the West Philippine Sea (but) its military application the moment rare earth minerals are extracted," he explained.