Dupax del Norte: Story of a Community Against Woggle Mining Corporation

By E. Maestro

The story of the continuing resistance of the indigenous and peasant  communities in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya against the British mining corporation Woggle Mining Corporation is one of courage. The people’s barricade, set up last September 2025, was the community’s response to stop Woggle Mining’s gold mining operations in Dupax and to protect their land, livelihood, and environment.

On January 23, 300-armed members of the Philippine National Police, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), and goons from the Woggle Mining Corporation violently dismantled the people’s barricade and arrested unarmed seven (7) community leaders, including six indigenous women. Without the barricade, the police cleared the entry for Woggle’s mining equipment and large-scale mining operations. 

It was, and is, a legitimate people’s protest. Woggle Mining ignored the indigenous peoples’ right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. Woggle Mining used the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 (RA 9742), described by the Center for Environmental Concerns as a “prime example of a neoliberal policy, liberalizing the mining sector by enticing foreign and local corporations to invest in the extraction of our natural wealth while failing to ensure national industrialization, equitable development, or environmental protection.”

The land defenders of Dupax del Norte have the right to protect themselves, to ensure that their communities and their environment do not end up like so many communities ravaged by big mining monsters. Let us remember what the Canadian mining corporation Marcopper (1996) did in  Marinduque. Or the mining disaster created by Lafayette Phils, a subsidiary of the Australian Lafayette Mining Ltd (2005) did  in Rapu-Rapu Island in Albay. Or the  operations of the Philex Mining Corporation, a unit of Hongkong-based First Pacific Co., (2012) in Benguet Province. Or the Australian-Canadian company OceanaGold (2014) and its operations in Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya.

The human and environmental costs are horrible, severe, long-term and maybe impossible to fix – lead poisoning, dead rivers and farmlands, erosion, contamination of drinking water, floods, plus displacement, killings, arrests, harassment and red-tagging. 

The land defenders of Dupax del Norte have the right to defend themselves. Because  the system fails them again and again.

The DENR  gave Woggle Mining the exploration permit in August covering about 3,100 hectares across five villages. The Regional Trial Court ordered the police to implement the writ of preliminary injunction favoring Woggle Mining, ordered the removal of the barricade, and directed police to identify and arrest the protesters. This dirty relationship between Woggle Mining, the court and the judges, the government agencies, the elected officials, the police and military ensures that  business goes on and profits are made. Even if it means to intimidate, harass, and terrorize the community of Dupax del Norte and those supportive of their struggle. The Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya Para sa Sambayanan) or AGHAM  the sums up this relationship in one word – bureaucrat capitalism and explains it thus:

“Ang paggamit ng batas at makinarya ng estado para sa interes ng pribadong korporasyon at mga kaalyado nitong pulitiko, at ang sistematikong kurapsyon sa hanay ng mga opisyal at gobyerno, ay parehong sintomas ng matagal ng sakit ng ating bansa – ang burukrata kapitalismo.”

Catholic Bishop Jose Elmer Mangalinao of Bayombong was among the first to speak out for the land defenders and to criticize the police action. He was quoted in the Altermidya press, “Despite their pleas for help from those in power, despite their repeated appeals to the court for what they are fighting for, what they received was silence, indifference, and favor given to Woggle Mining Corporation. Enough is enough, let us now raise our voices louder and demand accountability.”

Bakit nga ganoon? Bakit tagilid ang timbangan, pabor sa dayuhan at walang kuwenta ang mamamayan? Bakit walang pakialam ang mga nasa poder sa pagsira ng ating bundok, ng gubat, lupa, dagat, taniman, ng ating kabuhayan at ating kinabukasan? Ganoon ba habang panahon?

Hindi naman lagi tagilid ang timbangan. Nabasa ko iyon kay Amado V. Hernandez. ###

#DefendDupaxDelNorte

#DefendNuevaVizcaya