In solidarity with the Palawan indigenous peoples and local communities, in the Philippines, facing massive environmental degradation, in spite of the newly signed 50 years mining moratorium

Co-sign before May 30, 2025

TO: His Excellency, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., President of the Philippines; Hon. Amy Roa Alvarez, Governor of Palawan; Hon. Members of the Provincial Government of Palawan; Atty. Teodoro Jose S. Matta PCSD Executive Director, Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD); Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga DENR Secretary, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); Engr. Michael V. Cabalda MGB Assistant Secretary for Mining Concerns and Concurrent OI Director, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)
; Jennifer Pia Sibug-Las NCIP Chairperson, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP); Atty. Jansen Jontilla NCIP Provincial officer, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP); Audrey Azoulay UNESCO Director General

Over the past years, organizations and institutions have monitored, with much apprehension, the long sequence of environmental violations taking place in Palawan, a UNESCO declared Man and Biosphere Reserve, also known as the Philippines’ ‘Last Ecological Frontier’.

During almost three decades, the Philippine Government and the European Union have made considerable investments in the coastal plains, to stabilize agriculture, develop fruit and vegetables cultivations, promote the sustainable use of NTFPs, protect forests and mangrove strips. This boost was given through the various phases of the “Palawan Integrated Area Development Project” (PIADP) from 1982 to 1988, followed by the   “Strategic  Environmental Plan for Palawan" (1992-2002). In spite of all this, mining has been pushed aggressively on this pristine island, challenging the meaningful efforts achieved over the years. As result, concerned citizens and members of civil society from different nations have signed an international petition to Save Palawan’s Forests; this has now reached, almost, 69,000 online signatures.

Recently, the international community has applauded, with much satisfaction and excitement, to the passing of a 50 years mining moratorium in Palawan. However, after a careful perusal of the Provincial Government mining moratorium ordinance no. 3646 (Series of 2025), this initial enthusiasm has dropped, almost instantly. In fact, section 3 of the said ordinance, specifies that the moratorium will not apply to the extensions or renewal of existing mining permits or agreements that do not involve new areas. Moreover, it will allow existing mining operations to continue. This is to say that about eleven (11) already approved Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSAs) will be exempted from the moratorium.  Indeed, such mining permits, covering thousands of hectares of forestland and pristine ecosystems, also largely encroach on indigenous peoples’ territories, in various municipalities of Southern Palawan. 

We believe that the cumulative and adverse environmental impact of these mining operations will accelerate ecological degradation; this will add up to the environmental plundering, already perpetrated by existing companies such as Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation, Ipilan Nickel Corporation, Citinickel Mines and Development Corporation and Berong Nickel Corporation. Open-pit and strip mining for nickel results in the flattening of mountain tops, in the destruction of precious forest, in the production of vast amounts of tailings that contaminate fresh water sources and the sea. In less than a decade, those companies being exempted from the moratorium could obliterate the highly diverse landscape of southern Palawan, which is the only source of livelihood and cultural sustenance for hundreds of indigenous and rural communities. We are particularly alarmed by the threats that mining companies, such as those listed below, are posing to Palawan environmental sustainability and cultural integrity:

A) Citinickel Mines and Development Corporation.  The company is presently under a DENR suspension order, due to its violations of environmental legislation, silt spills into rivers, damages to lowlands farms and unpermitted tree felling. If ever such order is lifted, the company, in spite of the moratorium, could operate for another seven (7) years impoverishing, even further, the Pala’wan tribes of barangay Pulot and Narra (Municipality of Espanola).

B) Ipilan Nickel Corporation (INC). Its mining claim overlaps with the Mount Matalingahan Protected Landscape (Presidential Proclamation 1815 of June 23, 2009) and with the ancestral domain of Pala’wan tribal communities. The company has already felled more than 20 hectares of old-growth forest, causing the siltation of coastal areas and the drastic reduction of valuable fish stock. 

C) MacroAsia Mining Corporation and its partner, Calmia Nickel, Inc. The company’s mining tenement largely falls within the Mount Matalingahan Protected Landscape (MMPL) and the ancestral domain of isolated and vulnerable Pala’wan groups. The sites to be mined, harbor some of the oldest trees in the southern hemisphere and several endangered species listed by the World Conservation Union.

D) Lebach Mining Corporation (LEBACH). Its MPSA includes not only indigenous sustainably managed farms, but also residential areas, school grounds, places of worship and other locations of public interest. This is to say that if mining activities were allowed to initiate, local communities and resident populations would have to be relocated elsewhere. 

E) Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation (RTNMC).  The local government of Bataraza and the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) have revised zoning regulation to create the established of a ‘Mineral Development Zone’ 1,000m above sea level, in the Bulanjao range.  As a result, RTNMC has been allowed to mine in previously designated protected areas (‘core’ and ‘restricted’ zone, according to the Environmentally Critical Areas Network -ECAN). Bulanjao is a biodiversity hotspot and a sacred mountain of the Pala’wan. Six (6) major rivers flow from this mountain, supplying water to lowland residents. Mining extraction at high elevations has already caused severe land erosion, river siltation, deep clefts on the roadside and crater-like excavations. 

These are just few examples disavowing the ‘sustainable mining’ paradigm. Undoubtedly, Palawan steep and rough morphology is incompatible with mining operations. More importantly, the Philippine Government has the duty to protect the rights of all people to a balanced and healthful ecology (1987 Constitution, art. 11), rather then despoiling the future of coming generations. 

Mining extraction in Palawan has been made possible by a dysfunctional State apparatus that has intentionally stamped on its own environmental legislation, undermining ecological sustainability, social equality and food sovereignty. Ironically, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), rather then protecting the remaining forest, is financing studies to determine the capacity of Palawan to absorb mining (https://pia.gov.ph/denr-funds-study-on-palawans-capacity-to-absorb-mining-operation/)

In support of the indigenous peoples, farmers and fisher folk of Palawan, us members of national and international organizations, the herein signee organizations call for the following demands to be taken very seriously:

• For His Excellency, the President of the Philippines, to endorse a special proclamation, declaring Palawan a “no mining province” and an “agro-tourism zone”, as already requested by the Provincial Government of Palawan through resolution no. 20801, series of 2025;
• For the Provincial Government of Palawan, to ensure that the newly created ‘Mining Moratorium Council’ will efficiently oversee the irresponsible conduct of existing mining companies; 
• For the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to cancel all mining permits overlapping with biodiversity hot spots, such as the Mount Mantalingahan Protected Landscape (MMPL), as well as with natural forests, watersheds, mountain tops and the ancestral territory of indigenous communities; 
• For the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to make existing mining companies accountable for the benching of environmental laws; 
• For the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) to immediately refrain from amending protected ‘core’ and ‘restricted’ zones into ‘multiple use’ or ‘controlled use zones’, to accommodate mining. 
• For the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), to speed up the processing of Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claims (CADTs), and implement the Indigenous Peoples’ Right Act (R.A. 8371), uncompromisingly;
• For UNESCO to mobilize its diplomatic channels, so to ensure that the Philippine Government will safeguard local communities and prevent biodiversity loss within Palawan Man & Biosphere Reserve.

The Signee Organizations and Institutions

Co-signed by

• Aceh Wetland Forum, Indonesia
• Aid/Watch, Australia
• AJESH, Cameroon
• Apel Green Aceh, Indonesia
• ARA, Germany
• Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, Philippines
• Asociación Internacional Unimos, Spain
• Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany, Germany
• Balochistan Rural Support Program, Pakistan
• Belantara Papua, Indonesia
• Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines, United Kingdom
• Central American Alliance on Mining, ACAFREMIN, El Salvador
• centre for spiritual ecology, India
• Coal Action Network, United Kingdom
• COALITION AGAINST LAND GRABBING (CALG), Philippines
• Colectivo de Geografía Crítica, Ecuador
• Colectivo Voces Ecológicas, Panama
• COMMITTEE OF BREEDERS AND FARMERS OF THE TERRITORY (CAAT), Italy
• Dana and Qadisiyah Local Community Cooperative-Jordan, Jordan
• Disi women cooperative, Jordan
• Ecological Society of the Philippines, Philippines
• Égalité, Italy
• Endorois Welfare Council, Kenya
• Forest Peoples Programme, United Kingdom
• Forum Ökologie & Papier, Germany
• FORUM PENJAGA HUTAN DAN SUNGAI HARIMAU PINING, Indonesia
• GRABE-BENIN, Benin
• Green Of Borneo Kalimantan Utara, Indonesia
• Indigenous Amazigh Network AZUL, Morocco
• International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), Denmark
• Investigación y Acción Biocultural, Anima Mundi, A.C., Mexico
• Iura Civium ad Bonum Naturae, Italy
• Jaringan Advokasi Tambang Sulawesi Tengah, Indonesia
• JPIC Kalimantan, Indonesia
• jumu’eha renda keruhu, Brazil
• Lanskap Kita Berkelanjutan, Bengkulu, Indonesia
• Locally Managed Marine Area Network International Trust, Fiji
• London Mining Network, United Kingdom
• Mother Nature Cambodia, Sri Lanka
• Nagaland Community Conserved Areas Forum, India
• NATURAL JUSTICE, Senegal
• One Billion Rising International Campaign, India
• Otros Mundos Chiapas, Mexico
• PAUL K. FEYERABEND FOUNDATION, Switzerland
• Pemerhati Lingkungan hidup Urai uni, Indonesia
• People and Plants International, United States
• Perkumpulan hijau, Indonesia
• philippinenbüro e.V., Germany
• PowerShift e.V., Germany
• Rainforest Fund, United States
• RECON Philippines Inc., Philippines
• Rettet den Regenwald/Rainforest Rescue, Germany
• Salva la Selva, Spain
• Samahan ng mga Palawano sa Amas Brooke’s Point (SPABP), Philippines
• Satya Bumi, Indonesia
• Save Our Borneo, Indonesia
• SEEDS, Jordan
• Società italiana per la storia della fauna, Italy
• Stiftung Asienhaus, Germany
• Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, Philippines
• TFDP, Philippines
• THE ALLIANCE OF PASTORALISTS FROM AURUNCI AND CIOCIARIA, Italy
• The Gaia Foundation, United Kingdom
• The Oakland Institute, United States
• Tima, Finland
• Torre Flavia LTER Research Station, Italy
• Trend Asia, Indonesia
• Tuxa ta pame, Brazil
• UNIR en Haití, Haiti
• VAN GUJJAR TRIBAL YUVA SNGHTHAN, India
• WALHI North Sumatra, Indonesia
• WALHI PAPUA, Indonesia
• WEED - World Economy, Ecology, and Development e.V., Germany
• West Asia pastoralaist Network, Jordan
• World Rainforest Movement, Uruguay
• Yayasan Insan Hutan Indonesia (YIHUI), Indonesia
• Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, Indonesia