STATE TERROR IN DUPAX: CONDEMN THE VIOLENT ASSAULT ON INDIGENOUS LAND DEFENDERS!

STATE TERROR IN DUPAX: CONDEMN THE VIOLENT ASSAULT ON INDIGENOUS LAND DEFENDERS!

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan condemns in the strongest terms the brutal dispersal by hundreds of police of the barricade set up by the people of Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya opposing mining exploration. This operation exposes the Marcos Jr. administration’s true face: a regime that serves foreign mining interests by deploying state terror against its own people.

We condemn the overkill implementation of the Writ of Preliminary Injunction issued in favor of the British-owned Woggle Mining Corporation. The deployment of over 300 combined forces of the PNP, SWAT, and armed goons of the Woggle Corporation was not a law enforcement operation—it was an act of war against unarmed civilians. This excessive force resulted in the arrest of six individuals, including four Indigenous women, two of whom fainted during the ordeal and had to be rushed to the hospital.

We assert the farming community’s right to their land. The barricade stood on private property, yet it was violently dismantled on the basis of a Writ of Preliminary Injunction. This perversion of the law, where a legal instrument like the WPI is weaponized to eject landholders for the benefit of a corporation, lays bare the judiciary’s role in facilitating land-grabbing. The right to defend one’s home and source of livelihood is inherent and just.

We amplify the struggle of the Indigenous Peoples of Dupax del Norte. Their resistance is born from a history of displacement and plunder. Most residents are IPs already displaced by mining operations in the Cordillera. Now, they face a new threat through an illegal and fraudulent Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) process by Woggle Corporation. Using attendance sheets for aid distribution as purported “community consent” is a despicable sham. We expose the participation of local government officials that grease the wheels for these permits, even as we laud several municipal councils that support the people’s opposition.

We condemn the Marcos Jr. administration for allowing foreign companies to plunder our natural resources. The mining operations of foreign corporations like Woggle are not development; they are a form of imperialist plunder. The rich gold and copper deposits of Nueva Vizcaya are being offered on a silver platter to foreign capital, draining our resources and leaving behind only poverty and environmental destruction. The fight of the Dupax del Norte residents is the frontline defense of our national patrimony.

The violent dispersal in Dupax is the direct fruit of the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, a law crafted for foreign plunder, not national development or people’s welfare.

Therefore, we demand:

– The immediate and unconditional release of all arrested individuals from Dupax del Norte.
– The withdrawal of all state forces and corporate goons from the community.
– An independent investigation into the violent dispersal and the fraudulent FPIC process.
– The cancellation of Woggle Corporation’s permits.

Our central call remains clear and urgent: JUNK THE MINING ACT OF 1995! PASS THE PEOPLE’S MINING BILL NOW!

The blood and tears shed in Dupax del Norte cry out for justice and systemic change. We stand with the people of Dupax. Their fight is our fight. See less
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