Brooke’s Point LGU and residents to serve second CDO to mining firm

ATM Press Release | October 21, 2023

The local government and residents of Brooke’s Point announced they will serve a second Cease and Desist Order (CDO) against Ipilan Nickel Corporation (INC) on October 24 as they lambasted the mining firm for its utter disregard of the first CDO of the LGU and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

“When we first enforced the CDO by putting up a tarpaulin over INC’s property informing them to stop operations, the guards merely waited for the LGU and NCIP personnel to leave and within an hour, took down the order,” said Brooke’s Point Vice-Mayor Mary Jean Feliciano. “They openly defied government legal orders.”

“Because of this, we are reinforcing our order against INC. We are putting up another notice, a second CDO, as we demand that INC immediately stop its illegal mining operations,” Vice-Mayor Feliciano added.

“Ipilan Nickel should be warned that they will be held accountable for their continued defiance of the LGU and NCIP’s order,” said Feliciano. “The residents of Brooke’s Point will not tolerate the illegal operations of INC, which not only harms our environment and natural resources but continues to threaten people’s livelihoods.”

Together with several residents of Brooke’s Point, officials from the LGU and the NCIP will put up the posters containing the Cease and Desist Order.

Jaybee Garganera, ATM National Coordinator, criticized the INC for disrespecting the authority of NCIP and the LGU. “INC is acting like a bully even when it is clearly violating mining laws. If it is unable to abide by the orders of the local government and NCIP, then we highly doubt if it will be compliant with environmental standards and laws governing mining. INC’s defiant conduct tells us we must persist in our resistance against destructive mining.”