By Manny Mogato

MANILA, Oct 16 (Reuters) - The Philippines has offered to train and supervise private security guards protecting mines against attacks by Maoist-led guerrillas, the defence secretary said on Thursday.

Gilberto Teodoro said the government was also asking members of Congress to approve an extra 2 billion pesos ($41.8 million) in the defence department's 56.5 billion budget next year to recruit additional soldiers to be deployed at mine sites.

"The security needs of mining companies are very unique due to the areas where their investments are located," Teodoro told Reuters in an interview, encouraging mine operators to enter into security agreements with local military and police forces.

"We're willing to train the security personnel hired by the mining companies and assign soldiers to supervise them. We're even planning to deploy more troops in the mining areas."

The Philippines sits atop an estimated $1 trillion worth of unexplored copper, gold, nickel and zinc reserves and hopes to attract around $10 billion into its mining industry by 2011.

But persistent opposition from influential Catholic bishops and environment groups as well as attacks by communist New People's Army (NPA) rebels have slowed the entry of investments in the untapped mineral fields.

$1 billion target

About $300 million flowed into the sector in the first half of the year, against the Philippines' target of $1 billion for all of 2008.

Since the start of the year, the rebels have attacked about four major mine sites in the country, including Tampakan on the southern island of Mindanao, the largest untapped copper deposit in Southeast Asia.

The Tampakan mine is majority owned by Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata Plc.

The 5,000-member NPA is also active in Compostela Valley, a gold rush area in another part of Mindanao, providing a steady flow of cash to fund four decades of Maoist rebellion that has killed 40,000 people and stunted growth in a resource-rich state.

The army was recruiting, training and equiping at least three army battalions and 10 companies of part-time soldiers next year, Teodoro said, but the military needed twice the number of troops to hasten the defeat of the rebels by 2010.

"Some of the additional forces could be sent to Compostela Valley," he said, adding the government was organising a special unit to protect investments, such as mines, plantations, energy and economic zones against rebel attacks. (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and David Fox)

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