Mining ban in Palawan: Triumph for nature
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—A hard-fought environmental battle has finally paid off recently as the Palawan provincial government officially approved Ordinance No. 3646, declaring a 50-year extendable moratorium on the issuance of endorsements for all large and small-scale mining applications.
This historic decision of the provincial board on March 5 is a major victory for environmental advocates who have long opposed destructive mining operations in the country’s last ecological frontier.
“Our forests can finally breathe, but we have to ensure that this policy is enforced. The next 50 years will be a time of recovery and continued monitoring,” shared Save Palawan Movement (SPM) coconvenor Cynthia Sumagaysay-Del Rosario.
The moratorium, Sumagaysay-Del Rosario stressed, is just the beginning of a broader fight.
The moratorium covers not just new mining ventures but also applications for exploration permits, mineral agreements, and financial or technical assistance agreements.
For antimining advocates like Sumagaysay-Del Rosario, this ordinance is a hard-earned milestone in the continuing fight to preserve Palawan’s rich biodiversity and protect its communities from the damaging effects of extractive industries.
The SPM and other nongovernment organizations (NGOs), along with civil society organizations (CSOs) and religious leaders have been fighting against large-scale mining operations in Palawan.
Early push
The province, composed of more than 1,700 islands, is a long and narrow stretch of around 434 kilometers with maximum width of 39 km. Its land area, including the capital Puerto Princesa City, comprises 1,440,496 hectares, 70 percent of which is covered with natural forests that boasts of coastal and marine ecosystem composed of mangrove swamps, coral reefs, pristine natural beauty and rich biodiversity, earning it the tag as the Philippines’ “last ecological frontier.”
The Environmental Legal Assistance Center (Elac) and other advocacy groups had already pushed for a 25-year small-scale mining moratorium in 2008, though it was not enacted as an ordinance. Despite setbacks, environmental defenders did not relent.
For other Palawan environmental protection advocates, the actual battle started years before as NGOs have been pressing against the establishment of new mining operations in the province.
Lawyer Grizelda Mayo-Anda, Elac executive director, said that back in 2008, the Palawan provincial board also passed a resolution for a 25-year moratorium on small-scale mining.
Mayo-Anda, however, said that former Vice Gov. David Ponce de Leon, along with other lawyers, reiterated that an ordinance for the moratorium would not be possible.
“But we were happy [during that time] that at least they came out with a resolution, although we would have wanted an ordinance,” Mayo-Anda told the Inquirer.
She also said that Palawan’s environment scored another victory when the late former President Benigno Aquino III issued an executive order for a moratorium on new mining operations. It was short-lived though after former President Rodrigo Duterte, who succeeded Aquino in 2016, lifted it.
But the proposed ordinance itself took dramatic turns as NGOs, CSOs and religious organizations had to exert extra effort to lobby for its immediate approval.
People’s voice
The fight to achieve this moratorium began long before its passage. Nearly a year ago, the provincial government initiated the Provincial Stakeholders Congress on Mining and the Environment (PSCME) in April, gathering various groups to discuss the critical impacts of mining.
What started as a forum to assess the province’s mining policies quickly became a strong demonstration of the people’s overwhelming opposition to mining expansion in Palawan.
Gov. Victorino Dennis Socrates admitted that prior to the summit, he had no clear stance on a moratorium. However, after hearing testimonies from communities, scientists and environmentalists about the devastation caused by mining, his perspective changed. The voices of the people, he said, were impossible to ignore.
In September 2024, Socrates, in his State of the Province Address, echoed the urgent call to enact a mining moratorium. However, legislative hurdles arose when the Provincial Legal Office initially argued that such an ordinance exceeded the powers of the provincial board. This legal challenge forced revisions, but instead of weakening the moratorium, it was strengthened—extending the initial 25-year proposal to a 50-year ban on new mining applications.
With the ordinance seemingly stalled, advocates mobilized once more. NGOs launched a signature campaign, while the Catholic Church amplified the call for action.
In a show of unity, Palawan’s three bishops—Socrates Mesiona of Puerto Princesa, Broderick Pabillo of Taytay and his predecessor, Edgardo Juanich—issued a pastoral letter urging lawmakers to heed the public’s call. The campaign gained further momentum as thousands of signatures poured in, alongside social media campaigns, rallies and petitions.
Real dangers
Nature itself seemed to lend its voice to the cause. As debates continued, heavy flooding triggered by deforestation-related factors underscored the real dangers of environmental destruction.
The widespread damage became a stark reminder of why mining must be halted to protect Palawan’s fragile ecosystems.
In a recent press conference, lawyer Teodoro Jose Matta, executive director of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, said the council conducted a study back in 2022 on the causes of flooding in the municipality of Brooke’s Point—one of the areas severely affected by climate change and forest loss, the findings of which he said were also sent to the governor’s office with recommendations for measures to address and further prevent future flooding.
Matta said one key feature of the study and research was that in Brooke’s Point alone, 4,000 ha of forest cover are lost every year to kaingin (slash-and-burn farming), human settlements and agricultural expansion.
“If you expand this to other municipalities, they have similar numbers,” he noted
He cited poverty as one of the major causes of deforestation. He said there were enough socioeconomic programs lined up to uplift the grassroots communities yet these had not been implemented, leading people to fall back to the hinterlands because there was no viable income for them in urban centers.
“This is a far more bigger threat. Imagine 4,000 ha times 24 municipalities, even if you only count the mainland municipalities where most of our forests are,” Matta explained.
“If we are not addressing the main cause of deforestation, the main cause of floods, we have grown blind and deaf to the clamor of Palaweños for a better life,” he added.
Governor Socrates signed Ordinance No. 3646 on March 13, making history in Palawan’s environmental movement. The signing took place at the old Governor’s Residence, using the very desk once occupied by his father, a staunch environmentalist, who had once declared that protecting Palawan’s environment was “absolute, nonnegotiable, and without compromise.”
Board Member Arnel Abrina, an indigenous peoples leader and one of the ordinance’s main authors, acknowledged that it was an uphill battle.
“At first, we thought it was nearly impossible. But with the people’s support—and even nature helping us—it finally happened,” he said.
Mayo-Anda, however, said that while they recognize other causes of deforestation such as illegal logging, kaingin farming and other agricultural activities, and encroachments, there was also a need for transparency.
She said that compared to nickel mining, kaingin farming removes only the top soil and, therefore, the chances of the land reverting back to its original state is high.
“So we respect that, we agree that there are also other problems and not only mining that causes deforestation,” Mayo-Anda said.
“But with mining, you remove the forests, and its wildlife habitat, and you remove the top soil. So there is a big world of difference,” she added.
Vigilance
Despite this victory, antimining advocates remained vigilant as they warned that mining companies would continue to push back.
The Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) criticized Palawan’s 50-year mining moratorium, arguing that it exceeds the province’s mandate and undermines both the Constitution and the country’s global competitiveness.
The PNIA, in a statement on March 7, said the ban lacked legal and regulatory basis, disrupted the balance between local autonomy and national oversight, and would discourage investment by creating uncertainty.
“By imposing such a blanket ban without sufficient legal foundation or consultation with national stakeholders, it undermines the balance between local autonomy and national oversight, which is an essential element for sustainable and equitable development,” the group said.
But the PNIA expressed willingness to work with the provincial government to develop balanced policies.
