The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) strongly condemns the arrest of Kasibu Municipal Councilor Anthony Glenn Guingayan and the filing of charges against Kasibu resident Donny Dugay, as well as the recent filing of grave coercion cases against eight defenders from Barangay Kakiduguen opposed to the mining operations of North Luzon Mineral Resources Corporation (NLMRC) in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, with bail amounting to PHP 864,000- a price that farmers and indigenous peoples are expected to pay for defending their land.
The warrants, issued by the Municipal Trial Court of Kasibu and the Regional Trial Court of Bayombong, stem from charges of cyberlibel and grave coercion. These cases represent a continuation of the legal harassment campaign waged by NLMRC, a company owned by Jayme Atayde against the communities of Barangays Paquet, Dine, and Catarawan, whose barricades have blocked the company’s access to its 4,456-hectare exploration site since May 2026.
These developments occur within a broader policy environment that prioritizes foreign extraction over community welfare. Executive Order 122, signed in August 2026, establishes a framework for fast-tracking foreign mining permits and directs the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to explore approximately 9 million hectares of mineralized land. The Philippines’ participation in the US-led Pax Silica initiative further positions the country’s mineral resources as strategic assets for external supply chains. Environmental and Indigenous rights groups have consistently warned that these policies threaten ancestral domains, agricultural land, and ecologically sensitive areas.
The situation in Kasibu proves the Philippines’ record on environmental defenders. For 13 consecutive years, the country has been identified as the most dangerous in Asia for land and environmental defenders. In its 2025 report, Global Witness documented 12 killings in the Philippines—the highest number recorded outside Latin America—with six victims belonging to Indigenous Peoples. Mining was identified as the deadliest sector globally, and four of the 11 mining-related killings worldwide occurred in the Philippines. The criminalization of defenders through SLAPP suits and fabricated charges is a mechanism that precedes and enables physical violence.
In response, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), the umbrella organization of the country’s largest mining companies, issued a statement today declaring that its members “condemn all killings” and “denounce violence in any form.” It said it “does not support or endorse any acts of intimidation or direct harm to individuals or groups who disagree with mining operations.” It claimed that its members “subscribe to laws that require free prior and informed consent and regular consultations with host communities” and engage in “fair and honest talks with community leaders and advocates.”
The Chamber’s words ring hollow in Kasibu. We note with grave concern the violent dispersal of the August 28 barricade, during which 11 residents were arrested and one was hospitalized. Police authorities claimed they were responding to a 911 call, yet video evidence and witness accounts indicate they were escorting the company’s fuel trucks through the barricade. The use of state security forces to facilitate corporate operations against the expressed will of the affected communities is unacceptable.
The scale of this legal offensive is unconscionable. Over 70 individuals now face charges, with no fewer than 30 cases filed. The filing of these cases against community leaders, including elected officials, and against their legal counsel—Atty. Fidel Santos and Atty. Edgardo Balgos—demonstrates a deliberate strategy to exhaust the resources and resolve of those defending their land and livelihood. The consecutive offensives and judicial harassment by both the PNP and NLMRC now cost over a million pesos in bail—an amount that farmers have collectively raised, bleeding food producers dry for the sake of mining interests.
Kalikasan PNE expresses its full solidarity with the people of Kasibu. Their struggle is not an isolated incident but part of a nationwide resistance against destructive extraction and the repression that sustains it. We call on all Filipinos, people’s organizations, faith-based groups, and international allies to speak out and take action.
