Anti-mining Barricades In The Philippines

By Mong Palatino / Mongabay

More than 30 cases have been filed against Indigenous leaders, environmentalists, and lawyers for establishing anti-mining barricades in Nueva Vizcaya, a province in the northern part of Luzon, the Philippines’ biggest island.

Nueva Vizcaya is a mountainous province known for its vegetable produce and mineral resources. The surge in mineral exploration has led to the displacement of rural villagers and Indigenous peoples, which spurred communities to resist by installing barricades to disrupt the operations of extractive companies.

The grassroots organizers rallied public support and succeeded in pressuring officials to suspend Woggle Corporation’s mining permit. Another barricade set up on May 19 targeted the area of the North Luzon Minerals Resources Corporation, which was initially given the right to explore 4,456 hectares in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya.

Indigenous leaders and residents insist they were not properly consulted about the mining activities in their ancestral lands. They also expressed strong opposition regarding the destructive impact of the mineral exploration permits.

In response, mining firms and some local officials filed cyberlibel and trespassing cases against the leaders of the groups that installed the community barricades. The most recent case led to an arrest on August 19, and officials also filed grave coercion and disobedience cases against local protesters.

Aside from barricading entry to mining sites, activists and Indigenous protesters also trooped to the capital, Manila, to petition the cancellation of permits granted to mining companies. Bugkalot tribe member Zesirie Enggo, 26, the convenor of Kasibu Inter-Tribal Response towards Ecological Development, was among the delegation who submitted a letter to a government agency. She spoke at a public forum about the impact of mining on their community:

When I was a child, the river was wide, but now it has become just a channel of water that came from the mine.

It was supposed to be planting season, but there hasn’t been any rain yet. The water near the site of the drilling activities is already contaminated.

This case is just a small part of our struggle compared with what we are fighting for — not only for our community, but also to inspire other communities affected by large mining corporations.

Nueva Vizcaya is known for being a watershed that gives life to the community. If not taken care of, the production of fruits and vegetables will be scarce and it can’t supply to other places who depend on our products. That’s the consequence if we don’t do anything.

The Alyansa ng Novo Vizcayano para sa Kalikasan, a coalition of green groups in the province, issued a statement denouncing the harassment cases filed against local residents.

The filing of cyberlibel and other cases against community leaders and their lawyers is part of a growing pattern of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) aimed at silencing environmental defenders and weakening legitimate resistance to large-scale mining.

It added that the so-called “green transition” ignores the welfare of Indigenous peoples and rural communities.

These developments expose the human rights costs of the accelerating rush for critical minerals under the guise of the ‘green transition’ while affected communities continue to bear the burden of land dispossession, threats to their water sources, and attacks on their democratic rights.

Various groups outside the province have released public statements supporting the local campaign against large-scale mining.

The Center for Environmental Concerns condemned “the longstanding pattern of deliberate attempts from the collusion of state and private actors to stamp out local dissent.” The organization Yes to Life No to Mining asserted the right of Indigenous peoples and farming communities “to determine what happens to their land, especially as mining interferes with local land uses and visions for livelihood.”

Finally, Katribu acknowledged the role of collective action in pushing back against destructive projects.

Indigenous peoples across Nueva Vizcaya have resisted for decades against large-scale, foreign-owned mining that has brought only environmental destruction, loss of livelihood, militarization, and human rights violations. From the successful resistance against Royal Co Mining Corporation in 2008, to the recent people’s barricade that compelled the suspension of Woggle Corporation’s exploration activities in Dupax del Norte, the people have repeatedly proven that organized communities can halt destructive mining projects.

Police presence in the anti-mining barricade was denounced by local residents and activists. Photo from the Facebook page of the Alyansa ng Novo Vizcayano para sa Kalikasan – ANVIK Official. Fair use.

Despite the legal threats, the barricades are still being actively defended by Indigenous peoples and other stakeholders in the community. The police have been deployed in the area, which prompted residents to decry the militarization of their community. The situation in Nueva Vizcaya reflects the tension in numerous towns across the country as Indigenous peoples and local residents reject the entry of big mining companies.

URGENT ALERT | PNP arrests 13, intensifies harassment at Kasibu anti-mining barricade

Provincial and regional police forces arrested 13 individuals at the people’s anti-mining barricade in Brgy. Pacquet, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, around 1 PM today. The police were there to clear the road for the entry of crude oil for the mining exploration of North Luzon Mineral Resources Corporation (NLMRC).

The arrest of these individuals serves as another rights violation against those who have been opposing the mining exploration of NLMRC since May. The residents are resisting due to the lack of genuine public consultation among affected communities and the environmental and economic effects mining poses. Just this August 19, three members of KIRED were manhandled and arrested at the barricade without prior subpoena or reading of Miranda Rights. There have also been over thirty SLAPP cases filed against the defenders, in a clear pattern of judicial harassment.

The Center for Environmental Concerns – Philippines (CEC) strongly condemns the persisting harassment, intimidation, illegal arrests, and filing of trumped-up charges against the barricading people of Kasibu. Our organization stands with the people of Kasibu in demanding the urgent release of arrested individuals and the halting of arrest operations targeting other local defenders.

CEC also calls for the immediate removal of police forces from the barricade, as they are clearly there in favor of protecting NLMRC interests.

As tension and intimidation persist as of this writing, we also encourage all civil society to stay vigilant and stand with the people of Kasibu.

This is a developing story and will be updated as reports come in. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19DiBD9A9b/

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