Residents of MacArthur, Leyte declared their resistance to the MacArthur Ironsand Project Corporation (MIPC) operations and blacksand mining in their town. More than 200 residents from four barangays collectively lit candles to declare their opposition to the project on February 7.

The MIPC operates as contractor of the Strong Built Development Corporation (SBDC). In 2007, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)-Region 8 granted the SBDC a 25-year Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) covering 7,411 hectares of land in the towns of Dulag, Mayorga, MacArthur, Javier, and Abuyog.

In 2024, SBDC was bought by Bright Kindle Resources & Investments Inc, a company owned by Leyte 1st district representative and former house speaker Martin Romualdez, cousin of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. A giant MIPC mining ship docked in MacArthur in January this year to start mining in the town.

Residents photographed the ship’s entry into Barangay Maya and posted it on Facebook. Residents expect the ship to be relocated to where blacksand extraction in their barangay will commence.

They oppose the operations because mining will destroy their farmlands and critical irrigation systems for food production. Some farmers are already reportedly barred from entering their own land. United, the residents forced a temporary halt to MIPC-SBDC operations in 2022 after a community canal was damaged.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Eastern Visayas expressed support to the communities. The group stated that having a government permit is never enough a reason to disregard the people’s welfare. “Big companies’ interests must not prevail over the communities’ life, livelihood, and safety,” it said.

The group fears that continuing blacksand mining in MacArthur and other parts of the province will cause severe environmental destruction, loss of livelihood, and danger. Floods, landslides, and devastation of farmlands and homes are frequent threats to the region that is often hit by typhoons.

“We urge Eastern Visayas people to unite to stop the plunder and abuse of our environment—not only in MacArthur but across the entire region,” the group appealed.

Meanwhile, town local officials were compelled to speak against the mining operations on February 15. Some have already proposed a temporary halt to black sand mining and a comprehensive review of MIPC-SBDC compliance with requirements and guidelines.

The National Democratic Front-EV (NDF-EV) saluted the current stand and struggle of MacArthur residents against mining. “This is keeping up with the peasant-residents’ decades-long struggle against destructive mining that irreparably destroys their farmlands, livelihoods, and communities,” NDF-EV spokesperson Ka Celine Manlimbasog said.

Resistance to blacksand mining in their town is not new to MacArthur residents. In 2012, residents of Barangay Villa Imelda and Barangay Liwayway put up barricades against the Nicua Mining Corporation, a company mining and exporting blacksand to China.

The company operated in hectare upon hectare of rice fields surrounding Lake Bito, a source of livelihood for farmers and fisherfolk. Mining deposited an accumulation of oil and other toxic chemicals in the lake, repeatedly killing tons of fish and other aquatic resources.

Manlimbasog said these prove that puppet regimes have long allowed local and foreign capitalists to plunder the country’s natural resources. She called on the Filipino masses to unite and fight for a genuine Filipino mining industry in the context of a program for national industrialization and genuine agrarian reform, where the country’s natural resources are developed by and serve the people’s needs without harming them.