ZAMBOANGA CITY, Oct. 23 -- A rubber tapper was killed Thursday morning after an explosion ripped through the plantation where he was working in a remote village in Sumisip, Basilan, police reported.

Capt. Jakaria Muin, Sumisip police chief, identified the fatality as John Roy Alvarez, an employee of the Manggal Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Development Cooperative (Marbedco).

Muin said the explosion occurred near the tree Alvarez was tapping around 7:30 a.m. in Barangay Mangal. The victim was transported to Basilan General Hospital in Isabela City but succumbed to his injuries.

A rapid response team from the police and the Philippine Army's 32nd Infantry Battalion immediately cordoned off the blast site, which is about a kilometer from...