Benguet indigenous peoples oppose renewal of mining permit

BAGUIO CITY — Indigenous peoples from Barangay Bulalacao, Mankayan, Benguet, led by their village chief, have strongly opposed the renewal of a mining company’s permit to operate on their ancestral land, saying it was granted without their consent.

Barangay chief Satur B. Anton, who owns land where the Crescent Mining and Development Corporation (CMDC) is drilling, said their water sources have already been severely affected since operations began. He stressed that farming highland vegetables is the main livelihood of the community.

“I do not want my village mates to have nothing to eat because their livelihood will perish due to extractive mining,” Anton said in Ilocano.

CMDC, an Australian-owned firm, operates in Mankayan under a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) for a copper-gold project. Its 25-year permit expired in November 2021.

But according to Marlou Pablo, the Indigenous Peoples Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of Barangay Bulalacao, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) cleared the renewal of CMDC’s MPSA without going through the required Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) process.

In December 2021, then-NCIP Cordillera Regional Director Atanacio Addog issued a certification that allowed the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to grant the renewal. This enabled CMDC to continue drilling in Mankayan’s ancestral domain.

In protest, the affected villagers put up a barricade in June 2022. However, this August 2025, Anton reported that CMDC has again started moving its equipment into the area, placing drilling machines in the nearby Barangay Guinaoang despite opposition from both communities. He added that the targeted mineral reserve lies directly beneath Bulalacao.

The Kankanaey ancestral domain in Mankayan already hosts large-scale mining operations, including those of Itogon Suyoc Resources Corporation and Lepanto Consolidated Mining Corporation. Anton said decades of mining have depleted their water supply and turned rivers so acidic that residents can no longer use them.

The indigenous peoples are now urging the MGB to revoke CMDC’s MPSA renewal, calling it unlawful and a violation of their FPIC rights. They also pressed the NCIP to stop issuing permits that favor mining corporations at the expense of their environment and ancestral lands.

Pablo warned that extractive mining threatens not just their present livelihood but also their community’s future.