‘Mining Hell Week’: Communities Protest Destructive Mining, Urge DENR to Cancel Permits

Five groups demand the cancellation of permits for mining companies found to have damaged the environment as reports warn of a widening human rights crisis across the Philippines due to mining.

THEY came from islands and farming towns scattered across the archipelago, but on March 9 they stood together in Manila, telling anyone who would listen that the mines destroying their communities have to go.

Community leaders from five anti-mining barricade sites converged in Manila for the launch of Alyansa Tigil Mina‘s (ATM) Mining Hell Week on Monday, a biannual campaign targeting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) over what the coalition calls the government’s failure to protect communities from destructive large-scale mining. The launch also coincided with the release of ATM’s new report, “UnderMining Rights: Mining-Induced Human Rights Violations and Environmental Destruction.”

“By coming to Manila, the leaders are essentially bringing their barricades to the city,” said Jaybee Garganera, ATM’s national coordinator, calling on the DENR to urgently hear their complaints and cancel existing mining permits.

The five groups represent a cross-section of the country’s ongoing struggle against extractive industries — from Manicani Island in Eastern Samar to Sibuyan Island in Romblon, Homonhon Island in Eastern Samar, MacArthur in Leyte, and the mountain town of Dupax del Norte in Nueva Vizcaya.

On Manicani Island, Elizabeth Cabal of Protect Manicani Island Society Inc. said residents are fighting to cancel a 15-year permit extension for Hinatuan Mining Corporation’s nickel project, which she argues threatens a marine protected landscape serving as critical habitat for species found nowhere else. In Sibuyan, Elizabeth Ibañez of Sibuyanons Against Mining said the DENR has not responded to her group’s cancellation petition against Altai Philippines Mining Corporation, a petition they filed a full year ago. “It’s already one year,” she said, “yet we have not heard any word.” In Leyte, a barricade erected in February blocked a cutter suction dredger dispatched by MacArthur Iron Projects Corporation to extract black sand from farmland.

Pushed to the Limit

The situation in Dupax del Norte may be the most dramatic of the five, and its escalation over the past several months has drawn condemnation from church leaders, lawmakers, and rights groups nationwide.

In August 2025, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau issued an exploration license to Woggle Corporation. This company, linked to FCF Minerals Corporation and London-listed Metals Exploration Plc., was granted permission to explore a 3,100-hectare area in Dupax del Norte. The reported focus was on gold and copper deposits. The permit encompasses five barangays and is located within the Dupax Watershed Forest Reserve. This is a protected area situated in a province known for its mountainous terrain and ecological sensitivity.

The communities and residents impacted by the project swiftly voiced their disapproval. They pointed to the unlawful removal of trees, the absence of any prior discussions, and the absence of written permission from those whose land or homes were affected. Barangay council chair Junior Taligan of Oyao said a meeting Woggle held on Aug. 15, 2025, amounted to nothing more than an “information and education campaign,” not the meaningful community consultation required by law. Residents began erecting their barricade in September 2025.

The response from authorities was swift and, by the community’s account, heavy-handed. Tensions escalated on Oct. 17, 2025, when hundreds of uniformed police and masked individuals violently dispersed the barricade, arresting three people. In December, Woggle employees were accused by residents of harassment, stealing, and taking possession of and damaging their belongings. Then on Jan. 23, 2026, residents estimated more than 300 police personnel supported court sheriffs in implementing a writ of preliminary injunction, dismantling the barricade and arresting seven residents, people their supporters now call the “Dupax 7.” Charges of resistance, obstruction of justice, and direct assault were filed against them. All charges were dismissed three days later.

The Diocese of Bayombong, led by Bishop Jose Elmer Mangalinao, issued a pastoral letter denouncing the MGB’s approval of Woggle’s permit. Religious groups and former provincial officials joined residents in prayer vigils at the barricade. Lawmakers from both chambers of Congress called for a Senate inquiry.

The community’s fears are not abstract. For several decades, residents of Nueva Vizcaya have lived with polluted water, poisoned farmlands, and lost livelihoods from existing large-scale mining operations. OceanaGold’s Didipio mine in the neighboring town contaminated the Dinaoyan River with copper, killing aquatic life and reducing farm yields, according to an environmental investigation conducted in 2014. It is that history that residents say drives them to stand in front of mining equipment.

The pressure eventually yielded a partial concession. In a letter dated Feb. 5, the MGB ordered a temporary suspension of Woggle’s exploration activities, citing “sustained community opposition” as force majeure. But community defenders say the order is inadequate; they want the permit canceled outright, not merely paused.

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International Scrutiny

The protests come as international scrutiny of the Philippines’ mining sector increases, with major rights organizations issuing damning findings in recent months.

In January 2025, Amnesty International published a report, “What Do We Get in Return? How the Philippines Nickel Boom Harms Human Rights.” The report examined the situation in two of the Philippines’ busiest nickel-producing regions: Santa Cruz in Zambales and Brooke’s Point in Palawan, the traditional territory of the Pala’wan Indigenous People. Drawing from interviews with ninety community members, the report revealed that companies had secured permits without properly informing or consulting the individuals whose land and means of subsistence were directly affected.

The picture in Palawan was especially troubling. Community members told Amnesty they and others had been offered bribes by mining companies to support their projects. One resident, Beto Calman, put it plainly: the pro-mining side gets invited to meetings, he said, but those bearing the harm never do. Amnesty called on the Philippine government to suspend mining operations pending an urgent investigation, and demanded that EV brands audit their supply chains for links to Philippine nickel, warning that it is highly likely that nickel mined from these sites is entering the supply chains of major electric vehicle companies.

Amnesty described the affected communities in Zambales and Palawan as “sacrifice zones,”  places where residents endure devastating health consequences and rights violations so that multinational car companies and consumers in wealthier countries can buy electric vehicles.

That framing was echoed in a November 2025 report by Climate Rights International (CRI), which documented how nickel mining in Mindanao’s Caraga region — the country’s self-styled “mining capital,” with 23 active nickel mines — has poisoned drinking water, wiped out fisheries and farmland, and stripped away the forests and mangroves that shield coastal communities from typhoons. The Philippines is the most dangerous country in Asia to be a land and environmental defender, the CRI report noted, with mining opponents facing harassment, lawsuits, and in some cases, death. From April 2020 to December 2024, 92% of nickel ore mined in the Caraga region was exported to China, mostly to feed the global demand for EV batteries.

Nothing New

None of this is a new story for the Philippines. In March 1996, drainage tunnels at Marcopper Mining Corporation’s open pit on Marinduque island ruptured, spilling millions of tons of mine waste that smothered the Boac River, inundating villages and killing marine life. The United Nations declared it a major environmental disaster. Canadian firm Placer Dome, which operated the mine, left without meaningful accountability. The river remains damaged to this day. Cyanide spills in Rapu-Rapu in 2005 and a major tailings breach at the Philex mine in Benguet in 2012 followed. Each disaster produced investigations and promises of reform. Mining permits kept being issued.

During the Marcos administration, several new mining permits have been approved, a pattern Garganera has criticized sharply. Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña, who attended the Mining Hell Week launch, pointed out that mining companies contribute only about 0.4% to the local economies of the communities they operate in — a fraction that, the groups argue, does not come close to offsetting the damage done to farmlands, fisheries, and water sources.

Taken together — ATM’s new report, the Amnesty findings from January, and CRI’s Caraga investigation — the picture they paint is consistent and damning: a government that has repeatedly placed the interests of the mining industry above the welfare of the communities bearing its costs.

Garganera said the community leaders are seeking a direct dialogue with DENR officials. So far, no meeting has been scheduled. (Rights Report Philippines)

Rights Report Philippines covers human rights and accountability issues across the Philippine archipelago. Subscribe at rightsreport.org or follow us on social media @rightsreportph.