Philippines: Barricades Erected Against Mining Monopoly in Barangay Yabbi

Featured image: Citizen barricade in Barangay Yabbi. Source: Ang Bayan

After residents of Barangay Yabbi, in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vicaya, learned that the North Luzon Mineral Resources Corporation (NLMRC) would be routing its shipments of crude oil and materials through their village – residents decided to take matters into their own hands and erected a barricade, successfully blocking the shipments, Ang Bayan reports.

Residents of the Barangay Yabbi, under the leadership of barangay officials, issued a resolution on September 4, opposing all mining and mineral exploration in their barangay.

NLMRC’s planned exploration covers 4,456 hectares of the ancestral land of the Bugkalot/Ilongot indigenous people in the Pacquet, Biyoy, Dine, Catarawan, Kakidugen and Pao villages, planning to extract gold and copper.