The residents’ collective voice and protest recently pushed the local government of Barangay España in San Fernando, Sibuyan Island, Romblon to vote against endorsing the Altai Mining Project. More than 500 residents of the barangay and nearby communities protested on May 25 alongside the Sangguniang Barangay voting session.

The council blocked the project with a vote of 5 against and 4 in favor of endorsement. The Gatchalian family’s Altai Philippines Mining Corporation (APMC) will handle the Mining Project Feasibility and Operations in the town.

The APMC’s continued operations was allowed by Mineral Production Sharing Agreement No. 304-2009-IVB granted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in 2009. The operation covers 1,580 hectares of land in San Fernando.

The people’s sustained struggle forced the APMC to halt operations in 2011 through a cease and desist order (CDO). It resumed operations after the Duterte regime lifted the CDO. According to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)-MIMAROPA, the national MGB office under the Marcos regime granted APMC a permit on December 29, 2022 to mine 50,000 wet metric tons of nickel ore.

In January 2023, residents put up a barricade for 11 days to block the company from hauling out its mined nickel ore. Residents asserted that the operation was illegal and pushed the DENR to issue a cease and desist order against the company. Community leaders filed a petition with the DENR on May 4, 2025 to cancel APMC’s MPSA.

Residents consider the barangay’s refusal to endorse the mining operation as a victory. Barangay endorsement is one of the required documents in the process of applications and operations related to mining in an area.

Residents continue their actions to defend the entire Sibuyan. Mining operations will severely damage the lives and livelihoods of more than 62,000 people, most of whom are farmers and fisherfolk. A large part of their livelihood depends on forest and river resources.

The island hosts unique fauna and flora, including endemic and endangered species such as the Philippine hanging parrot, kulasisi, and tube-nosed fruit bat. The forest is dense, with 1,551 trees per hectare. The island also has four protected areas: Mt. Guiting-Guiting National Park, a marine protected area, a mangrove swamp forest reserve, and the ancestral land of the Sibuyan Mangyan Tagabukid minority group. Sibuyan Island is dubbed the “Galapagos of Asia.”