Kankanaey residents block mining equipment in Mankayan

MANKAYAN, Benguet -- Kankanaey Indigenous Peoples and other residents of two barangays in Mankayan maintained their barricade Tuesday, preventing workers and heavy equipment from a mining company from entering their community.

Residents of Barangays Bulalacao and Guinaoang later celebrated a Mass after personnel of Crescent Mining Development Corp. and their police escorts left the area.

On the morning of 8 September 2026, residents manning the barricade faced company workers and police officers wearing riot gear.

Authorities were seeking to enforce a writ of preliminary injunction issued by a Benguet court in favor of the mining company. The order barred residents from setting up barricades to prevent the company from entering its proposed exploration site.

The police officers and company personnel left the area at about 3 p.m.

Community elders and protesters said they expected another attempt to enter the area and vowed to continue guarding their agricultural lands and ancestral domain.

“Enggay ay naw ed nan agew, ipapati tako ya ituloy tako nan laban,” elders Gary Dulag, Mauro Lamenta and Binal Bagtila said in Kankanaey.

“The day has passed and we made it. We must be determined to continue the fight,” they added in a translation.

Residents said the proposed mining exploration threatened vegetable farms and watersheds that support the municipality’s agricultural economy.

The barricade has been in place since 13 October 2025, amid residents’ questions over the legality of the renewal of the company’s mineral production sharing agreement.

They are also questioning whether the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources obtained the required free, prior and informed consent from the affected Indigenous community.