Indigenous people and residents from two barangays in Itogon, Benguet relaunched their protest on January 27 opposing the expansion of the Sangilo Mines operations owned by Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc. (ISRI). They held the action when the Department of Environment and Natural Resources–Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) called a “public scoping” in Barangay Tuding.

The DENR-EMB conducts “public scoping” as an initial step for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of a project. It is supposedly aimed at hearing the issues, concerns, and recommendations of those affected by the mining and to define the study’s scope.

Instead of joining the DENR-EMB meeting, residents of Barangay Poblacion and Sitio Dalicno in Barangay Ampucao protested to denounce the project. According to the Itogon Interbarangay Alliance (IIB-A), the public consultation was bogus for not sufficiently informing communities.

The local government of Itogon received the DENR-EMB’s January 8 document only on January 14. “This gave the public only 13 days to review a highly technical 170-page document, which is unreasonable to expect an ordinary citizen to fully understand,” the IIB-A said.

The group added that the public had limited access to the document, as downloading the online public copy was not allowed.

“We call on all concerned regulatory agencies to set and conduct comprehensive and independent (not controlled by the project proponent) hydrogeological studies and dam structure assessments,” the group stated. The IIB-A demanded above all to ensure the genuine and proper process of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), respecting the rights of the indigenous people.

The Application for Production Sharing Agreement (APSA) 103 permitted the expansion of Sangilo Mines in Sitio Dalicno. This ISRI and government agreement allows mining within 581 hectares of land covering the barangays of Virac, Poblacion, and Ampucao. It allowed the company to mine 22 million tons of gold-bearing ore over 25 years.

ISRI has been operating in Benguet since the 1930s. The company is currently owned by Enrique Razon Jr’s Apex Mining Corporation Inc.

Indigenous people and residents have been opposing the mining expansion since August 2020. They have exposed irregularities at every stage of the process pursued by ISRI and government agencies. Residents have launched protests, caravans, civil cases, and other forms of collective action to stop and ultimately scrap the project.