Senator Francis Pancratius N. Pangilinan on Tuesday called on authorities in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, to protect local farmers who are resisting a mining exploration they say threatens their farmlands.

"Why must the farmers of Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, defend themselves, their land, and their livelihoods against the very authorities who are supposed to protect them?" Mr. Pangilinan said in a statement issued in Tagalog. "What they should receive from the authorities is support — not violence, arrests, or intimidation."

The senator's appeal followed an incident on Friday in which personnel of the Philippine National Police forcibly attempted to breach a barricade that Kasibu farmers have maintained since May to oppose a mining exploration by North Luzon Mineral Resources Corp. (NLMRC). The farmers claimed the exploration permit was issued without proper consultation.

Under the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, an exploration permit authorizes a company to search for and evaluate mineral deposits — a preliminary regulatory stage, distinct from the production agreements required before any extraction can begin.

In August, 14 people were arrested for participating in the Kasibu barricade, according to a statement by the Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines.

Mr. Pangilinan asserted that a project that drives people away from their own land or destroys their crops cannot be called development.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources agency that administers mining permits, said on Sunday that NLMRC's exploration permit was validly issued. "The Exploration Permit issued to NLMRC underwent the requisite evaluation and approval processes of the MGB and remains valid unless suspended, cancelled, or otherwise modified in accordance with law," the bureau said in a Facebook post.

Jaime Leandro N. Atayde, a representative of NLMRC, said in a Viber message that the company held consultations at Barangay Pao and Kakiduguen in 2024, though such consultations were not a requirement for securing an exploration permit.

"[I]t took us more than 2 years to get our exploration permit from [MGB]. [I]f they feel our permit is illegal, why don't they ask [MGB] for their comment," he said.

"[W]e have undergone [a] series of investigation, and we have not violated any law."

The competing accounts — farmers citing an absence of consultation, the regulator citing a validly issued permit, the company citing an approval process that stretched beyond two years — place the question of what consultation is owed to affected communities at the exploration stage at the center of the standoff. By the MGB's own terms, the permit stands unless suspended, cancelled, or otherwise modified in accordance with law, making any such regulatory action, together with how authorities handle the barricade, the key developments to watch.

— Francessca S. Abalos, BusinessWorld

Source: BusinessWorld