Protecting Land, Water and Future: APHR Stands With Dupax del Norte Land Defenders Against Foreign Environmental Plunder

JAKARTA, 27 January 2026—ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) condemns in the strongest terms the violent, disproportionate and state-backed assault on land defenders in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya in the Philippines.

On 23 January 2026, more than 300 Philippine National Police (PNP) and SWAT personnel were deployed to dismantle a community barricade which resulted to the arrest of seven community members, including indigenous women leaders, in an operation that forcibly cleared the way for the entry of mining equipment linked to the British company, Woggle Corporation. The scenes of arrests, mistreatment and the demolition of a community barricade erected upon titled land amount to a grave insult to the people’s right to defend their land and environment.

As a network of Southeast Asian legislators, APHR is alarmed that, rather than investigating the documented abuses and the procedural irregularities surrounding Woggle’s activities, local government and other key state institutions have intervened on behalf of corporate interests. Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 30 issued an order on 19 January 2026 signed by Judge Paul R. Attolba Jr. for the full enforcement of the writ of preliminary injunction to remove barricades via police assistance. An order which was followed by the forceful clearance of the peoples barricade on 23 January.

These judicial directives, and their operationalization by police, raise serious questions about the balance of justice when communities seeking to protect their land confront powerful extractive interests.

The entry of Woggle into Dupax del Norte did not arise overnight. From June 2025 the company and its affiliates have been reported to conduct exploratory activities, including rock-chip sampling and geological mapping; and by July 2025 community members reported tree-uprooting in Sitio Keon without the necessary Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) permits. In August 2025 the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) granted an Exploration Permit covering approximately 3,100 hectares across five barangays despite persistent, documented objections from barangay councils, provincial resolutions requesting cancellation and blatant gaps in consultation and consent. These facts together point to a pattern in which environmental safeguards and indigenous Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) procedures were bypassed or undermined.

As of 26 January, all seven arrested community members have been released and the charges against them dismissed. Nonetheless, the violent dispersal and intimidation of land defenders caused real harm and will require accountability.

APHR emphasized that the ecological damage caused by extractive projects in the province, a critical water-haven bordered by the Sierra Madre, Caraballo and Cordillera mountain ranges, will amplify flood and disaster risks already exacerbated by climate change, devastating farmers’ and indigenous peoples’ lives for generations to come.

ASEAN states and institutions committed to human rights and sustainable development must not stand aside when the rule of law is used to protect corporate access while undermining the rights of communities and the ecological foundations of the region.

APHR supports the calls for accountability and stands in solidarity with the people of Dupax del Norte as they defend their land, water and future.