Brave residents of the mountainous municipality of Dupax del Norte in the Philippines have scored a victory against a multinational mining company, winning a suspension order of mineral explorations in their community.
Despite repeated arrests and police attacks against them over months, the residents have put up and defended their anti-mining barricade, forcing national government authorities to issue a cease and desist order against a British-owned company.
“Such [community] opposition has resulted in the establishment of barricade and blockades along access roads leading to the exploration site, thereby impeding entry and giving rise to concerns affecting public safety, peace, and order,” the government’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) director Michael Cabalda explained.
“Despite interventions undertaken by concerned government authorities, these conditions have persisted and continue to prevent the safe, orderly, and lawful conduct of exploration activities,” Cabalda said.
He added the temporary suspension declaration orders Woggle Corp. to “cease and desist” effective immediately.
The order shall remain in force under things have “normalized,” the MGB said.
Woggle, a subsidiary of the British mining firm Metals Exploration, is interested in gold and nickel deposits in the area. It however earned widespread condemnation when it chose to seek a court order against the resident’s opposition to its activities that resulted in mass arrests.
Local environmentalists, activists and church groups have since joined residents in one of the longest anti-mining standoffs in the Philippines in recent years.
Protesters hail order
The residents as well as rights advocates welcomed the exploration suspension order, calling it a victory of “collective action.”
Community leader Florentino Daynos II hailed the MGB order, acknowledging however that it is temporary and needing continued vigilance for a permanent ban on unwanted mining.
He said that the protesters and their supporters shall be holding a thanksgiving Mass at the Bayombong Cathedral on Thursday.
“We welcome this suspension and celebrate with the people of Dupax. Let this be our affirmation of the necessity of collective action–that protesting, organizing, and defending our rights yield results, and that the struggle of Indigenous Peoples is just,” Indigenous peoples’ rights advocates Katribu said.
Katribu however stressed that the suspension is temporary and vowed to continue their solidarity to Dupax del Norte residents until Woggle Corporation is driven out.
Regional support group Taripnong Cagayan Valley likewise called on the government to issue a permanent ban against the British subsidiary, calling the temporary order a naked attempt to lull residents into complacency.
“Because the suspension is temporary, Woggle Corp. may seek other devious ways to continue with its unwanted exploration, including using the military and the police in their operations,” Taripnong said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
