By ARTEMIO DUMLAO
www.nordis.net
BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—On January 23, tension gripped Bitnong, Dupax del Norte, as government authorities dispersed a human barricade in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya, against a mining firm’s exploration project, arresting seven residents.
Residents estimated that over 300 police personnel supported court sheriffs in implementing the Writ of Preliminary Injunction, directing the removal of road blockades preventing Woggle Corporation from accessing its exploration site in Sitio Keon, Barangay Bitnong.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau issued a permit for a 3,100-hectare exploration area in August 2025, covering five barangays. Residents erected the barricade in September, citing the lack of community consultation, environmental risks, and threats to their livelihoods.
Aside from community leader Florentino “Tinong” Daynos, six other residents were arrested, including four women: Barangay Bitnong Councillor Krislyn Betit Pocday, Adela Modi, Analiza Baliao, Amelia Rabino, Janet Macario, and Sonnett Nginsayan.
Residents opposing the project said the arrests followed pushing and shoving as police forced them out of the road, after removing the physical roadblocks.
Rochelle Dela Cruz from Bitnong, who streamed the dismantling and arrests via Facebook Live, said Nginsayan was a bystander who was only supposed to accompany Macario, her mother, to the precinct, but was arrested. Upon her mother’s appeal, she was later brought to the hospital after she had an anxiety attack.
Edgardo Balgos, one of the lawyers for the residents who was at the site, said the police were also forced to arrest a Woggle employee for cutting a tree just to make space for parking the company truck loaded with pipes for the exploration.
“If the defenders hadn’t kept pressing, they also wouldn’t have arrested the Woggle worker who cut down trees without a permit and with an unregistered chainsaw, in the presence of the police,” he said.
He said the police also committed violations when they arrested Daynos while protesting on private land.
“The court order says that Bro. Tino and the other defendants are prohibited from blocking Keon Road, but at the time of the arrest, and even before it, he was neither on Keon Road nor at the barricade,” Balgos added.
Lawyer Fidel Santos, whose law office is also assisting the villagers, said those arrested remain detained at the Dupax del Norte police station. They will face inquest proceedings for obstruction of justice and resistance to authority, as supporters kept vigil outside the facility.
Santos added that the community remains defiant, even as Woggle personnel, with police assistance, transported drilling equipment and fuel to the site shortly after the clearing.
He added that residents are opposing what they believe are the company’s final drilling activities, citing concerns about noise pollution that they say has disrupted sleep, schooling, and daily life.
An injunction case seeking a temporary restraining order has been filed against Woggle, Santos said. Religious groups and former provincial officials earlier joined residents in prayer and solidarity at the barricade site.
Police claim the operation was conducted peacefully, observing maximum tolerance and in compliance with the court order.#nordis.net/with report from Danilova Molintas
