ATOK, Benguet — A local lawmaker in Benguet province has accused a mining corporation of putting her under surveillance at the municipal hall following her participation in an anti-mining protest.

Atok Councilor Kelly Denn Venancio Tomas said a representative from the Crescent Mining Development Corp. (CMDC) visited the municipal legislative building to gather intelligence on her.

The alleged incident occurred days after Tomas joined a fact-finding mission supporting indigenous farmers protesting pending drilling operations in the neighboring town of Mankayan.

Tomas detailed the encounter in a social media post, using sharp criticism and sarcasm to address the mining firm.

She said the individual hesitated when invited to meet her face-to-face inside the legislative offices, and she mockingly offered to provide her information directly so the company’s surveillance team “would not have a hard time.”

She also extended an open invitation for company representatives to attend the local council’s regular Monday sessions instead.

The councilor explicitly linked the corporate interest to her recent involvement in a fact-finding mission organized alongside a youth group in Mankayan’s Barangays Bulalacao and Guinaoang.

In those villages, residents and students have set up barricades to protest CMDC’s exploration activities, citing threats to ancestral lands, water sources and agricultural livelihoods.

Addressing why she intervened in an issue outside her immediate political jurisdiction of Atok, Tomas said environmental advocacy and indigenous rights transcend territorial borders.

“Northern Benguet farmers play a critical role in the national agricultural economy,” Tomas said, describing the indigenous farmers as the ultimate protectors of the region’s watersheds.

She warned that when local farms are threatened by corporate exploration, national food security is put at risk.