The Agustin Begnalen Command- NPA-Abra launched a tactical offensive against the 24th IB-AFP in Mount Basiwag, Barangay Gacab, Malibcong on the 27th day of October. The fascist AFP suffered 3 casualties (2 dead, 1 wounded). The NPA meted punishment to the 24th IB for serving as security force to LARGE-SCALE MINING (LSM) in Abra. Approval of the applications of capitalist corporations for Exploration Permit, Mineral Production Sharing and/or Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) is currently being railroaded. These LSM applications cover the ancestral lands of Malibcong, Lacub, Tineg, Licuan- Baay, among others, and the adjoining boundaries of Abra with Apayao and Kalinga, along the Gran Cordillera Mountain Range.

To ensure the approval of these projects, the Joint Task Force TALA of the AFP-PNP is continuing its Focus Military Operation (FMO) in the said areas. These FMOs threaten the lives of the the minority tribes of Abra, Kalinga and Apayao. The aim is to coerce them into submission and force them to surrender. The AFP-PNP want to break the people’s unity and eradicate opposition to the LSM, hydropower (dams), and geothermal projects which are priority projects of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. regime, in connivance with its imperialist masters.

The people have nothing to gain from Large-Scale Mining and Militarization but intensified land grabbing of their ancestral lands, worsening poverty, dislocation, disasters and violation of their rights.

Before and even after the magnitude 7 earthquake that hit Abra in July, treacherous negotiations between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Mines and Geosciences Bureau (DENR- MGB), Cordillera Exploration Company Incorporated (CEXCI), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and Local Government Unit (LGU) of Abra were already ongoing. According to MGB data, as early as 2021, CEXCI already began the process of securing Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) for its Exploration Permit Application(EPA). CEXCI took over this EPA from Newmont in the 1990s. CEXCI’s EPA #14 alone covers 132,192.26 hectares of Malibcong, Daguioman, Licuan-Baay of Abra and Balbalan and Pasil of Kalinga.

In preparation for Large Scale Mining activities, the Cordillera road is now being constructed. This road begins along the Malibcong portion of the Abra-Kalinga Road and will extend to Apayao. It is clear to the people that this road is not for their benefit, but this road will hasten the transport of the people’s mineral resources out of the Cordilleras.

CEXCI is the subsidiary of Nickel Asia, which is owned by Zamora and Virata-cronies of the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Their partner is Sumitomo Mining Metal of the imperialist Japan. It is acommon knowledge that the capital of Nickel Asia is part of the hidden wealth plundered by the Marcos Family from the Filipino people.

History has proven again and again that the people have nothing to gain from Large-Scale Mining. It is the imperialists, Marcos Jr. and his cronies, and the warlord-bureaucrats in power who will benefit.

The just revolutionary struggle of the people

In addition to the October 27 tactical offensive, the Agustin Begnalen Command-NPA-Abra also launched offensives on June 30, July 9 and August 18, in various areas of Abra and Apayao. 5 AFP soldiers including a lieutenant , were killed in these 3 offensives. These NPA offensives serve to deliver the message that the people’s army and the democratic classes are ever-ready to fight the security forces of these greedy LSM, hydropower (dams), and geothermal companies.

The people are resolute in their fight against Large-Scale Mining and Militarization. The tribes and communities take part in this struggle. The defense of ancestral lands for the future generations is part of the Revolutionary tradition.

Fight resolutely against plunder of our ancestral lands !

Fight against capitalist mining, hydropower and geothermal projects !

Advance the National Democratic Revolution!