Once again, the people of Nueva Vizcaya have raised a barricade in defense of their land, life, and livelihood. On the eve of May 8, residents of Barangay Pao, Kasibu decisively established a people’s barricade to stop the entry of North Luzon Mineral Resources Corporation (NLMRC), a mining corporation armed with Exploration Permit No. EP 000029-II to explore for copper, gold, and other minerals across 4,456 hectares covering Sitio Ambedbed and Degyem in Barangay Pao and portions of Barangay Kakidugen.
Behind the language of “exploration” and “development” lies the same old reality: large-scale mining corporations descending upon rural communities to plunder land and resources for profit while leaving destruction, displacement, and repression in their wake. NLRMC’s permit, renewable for up to six years, threatens to open yet another vast area of Nueva Vizcaya to the violence of mining extraction. Mines and Geosciences Bureau records further show the corporation to be 60% Filipino-owned and 40% Chinese-owned, while also pursuing mining expansion in Quirino and Isabela.
The people of Kasibu know too well the deceit and violence that accompany mining operations. Residents exposed how the company entered the community under the guise of constructing a pozo negro while attempting to smuggle crude oil and mineral samples out of the area. This blatant deception only confirms what communities across the country already know: mining corporations will lie, manipulate, and exploit communities to force their entry into resource-rich lands.
The people’s barricade in Pao stands on the long and militant tradition of resistance in Nueva Vizcaya. The people of Kasibu remember the destruction wrought by OceanaGold Philippines Inc. in Didipio–depleted water resources, destroyed forests and farmlands, damaged livelihoods, and grave violations of people’s rights. They remember how the Duterte regime shamelessly renewed OceanaGold’s permit in 2021 despite years of opposition and documented human rights violations. They remember the fierce barricades in Kakiduguen, Dine, and Biyoy in 2017 against Royalco and OceanaGold’s expansion. They have also witnessed the recent resistance of communities in Dupax del Norte against Woggle Corporation’s destructive mining project.
What is happening in Kasibu is not an isolated incident but part of the relentless drive of the capitalist system and imperialist powers to suck dry the mineral wealth of the Philippines. In the midst of intensifying global crises and inter-imperialist rivalry, foreign powers are scrambling to secure “critical minerals” needed for their industries, wars, and economic dominance. The Philippines is being reduced into a giant quarry and dumping ground for foreign capital, while Filipino communities absorb the full burden of environmental devastation and poverty.
So-called critical minerals deals and initiatives such as “Pax Silica” expose the true character of these imperialist arrangements. They package mining plunder as “green transition” and “development,” but in reality these agreements merely guarantee a steady flow of Philippine mineral resources outward to imperialist countries and multinational corporations. The Filipino people receive no genuine national industrialization, no meaningful agrarian reform, and no social justice—only intensified extraction, militarization, land grabbing, and ecological destruction.
The state itself remains complicit in this plunder. Government agencies tasked to protect the people instead serve as brokers for mining corporations, issuing permits and legitimizing sham consultations while communities are silenced, harassed, and militarized. The Marcos Jr. regime continues to aggressively open the country to foreign mining investments under the banner of economic growth while sacrificing ecosystems and communities for the profits of foreign capitalists and local ruling elites.
But time and again, the people have shown that organized resistance is stronger than corporate greed. The barricade in Pao is a declaration that the people will not surrender their land and future to mining plunder. It is a living assertion that communities have the right to defend their territories against corporations and state forces that profit from destruction.
Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment stands in full solidarity with the people of Kasibu and calls on all environmental defenders, democratic sectors, and the broader public to support and strengthen the people’s barricade against NLMRC.
