Release All Arrested! Stand with the people's barricade in Dupax vs Woggle!

Today, January 23, hundreds of police personnel were deployed to Dupax del Norte in Nueva Vizcaya to enforce a writ of preliminary injunction ordering the dismantling of the people’s barricade against Woggle Corporation’s mineral exploration. Reports from the community indicate that Woggle personnel threatened the barricade with arrest if they interfered, while the police openly declared their readiness to carry out arrests.

Despite a calm and peaceful protest—holding a mass and collectively blocking Woggle’s entry—the police proceeded with arrests. Six Igorot women were declared as arrested by the police. Four were arrested during negotiations at the barricade, while the other two fainted and were taken to the hospital by the police. A woman protester was also harassed, with her clothes forcibly pulled off during police’s violent dragging. Police forces allowed a backhoe to enter the area and forcibly removed community’s tarpaulins.

Katribu strongly condemns these arrests and harassment of the people of Dupax. We hold the PNP, Woggle Corporation, and Marcos administration accountable for these violations. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) bear direct responsibility through their questionable issuance of exploration permits, while the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has failed in its mandate to protect Indigenous communities from displacement, environmental harm, and corporate abuse. The NCIP remained silent and complicit as the welfare and interests of IP communities were trampled upon.

The issue in Dupax del Norte is not simply the legality of a community barricade. It exposes the deep injustice of the Marcos government that allows Woggle, a foreign and UK-based mining company, to plunder mineral resources at the expense of the people and the environment. Communities in Dupax have lived on, cultivated, and depended on this land for decades; yet they face displacement and threats to their farms and livelihoods, with the environment subjected to irreversible destruction—all so a foreign company can extract profit with the backing of the State.

The police and justice system are being used to actively advance the foreign corporate interests at the expense of the people, Indigenous communities, and the environment. Likewise, today’s earlier protest at the DENR also revealed police siding with bureaucrat-capitalists interests, interfering with a peaceful and legitimate protest.

By siding with Woggle and deploying hundreds of police, the government priorities are clear: corporate profit over people’s welfare, foreign capital over environmental protection, and repression over genuine development. The State has a clear obligation to protect communities, uphold ecological integrity, and ensure that development serves the people, not foreign mining interests. Yet, instead of addressing the social, environmental, and economic harms of large-scale mining, the Marcos government chooses to criminalize community resistance and silence legitimate opposition.

Katribu calls for the immediate release of all arrested protesters and an end to the repression and militarization of communities defending their land and livelihood. The police, military, and all government personnel must stop acting as paid protectors of corporate plunder and instead stand with the people, uphold human rights, and defend the environment.

The Dupax barricade is not a crime. It is a collective act of self-defense against displacement, environmental destruction, and a development model that benefits corporations while leaving communities poorer and more vulnerable.

We stand with the people of Dupax del Norte. Stop Woggle Corporation’s mining operations. The government must be held accountable for enabling foreign plunder. We demand a development path that puts people, the environment, and national interest above corporate greed. #

Reference:

Beverly Longid

National Convener, Katribu