Coconut plantation being destroyed with palms that have been uprooted — Coconut plantations being flattened by Calmia Nickel Inc. (© CALG)

People in the coconut plantation with a banner that says "no trespassing" — Defending the coconut plantation (© CALG)

Palawan: Mining pushes ahead, local resistance grows

Oct 28, 2026Philippines: Indigenous people on the Philippine island of Palawan are asking for support as mining operations expand: “the mining company Calmia Nickel Inc (CNI) has crossed every line”.

“Mining companies in the Philippines are growing bolder, more aggressive, and are now working to fracture community solidarity from the inside”, says one of our allies at the Coalition against Land Grabbing (CALG), who is working closely with the affected Pala’wan Indigenous community.

Nickel is used in lithium-ion batteries for cars, placing it at the heart of the current global race for the “energy transition”.

At dawn on October 1, heavily armed guards entered privately owned coconut farmland in Sitio Linao, Brooke’s Point, fencing off part of it with barbed wire to force their way into the uplands. This land is part of the ancestral domain of the Pala’wan people. The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) was alerted as communities watched their livelihoods being bulldozed.

A motorbike in the foreground, with several armed guards behind and around it, standing among the local people — Armed guards associated with the mining company at the Indigenous people’s barricade (© CALG)

Indigenous landowners immediately built a barricade and a small shelter so they could stay on site, refusing to let mining equipment advance. Communities across the Philippines use barricades to resist mining.

A Rainforest Rescue online petition against mining in Palawan and Brooke’s Point was launched in August 2026, prompted by the dismantling of an earlier barricade. The petition is now nearing 50,000 supporters.

“The Rainforest Rescue petition is an important way of helping to get visibility for the affected Pala’wan”, writes CALG.

“Calmia’s rush uphill is already destroying decades-old coconut groves, uprooting fruit trees and threatening the primary forest next”, states a press release CALG is distributing.

A canopy among the coconut palms with a person sitting beneath it, their back to the camera — Alone among the coconut palms, defending the barricade (© CALG)

The affected Indigenous people’s position is clear:

“If the bulldozer forces its way through, it would have to pass over our bodies”, they told us.

The company could break through the new barricade with heavy machinery, but people standing in its path make that far more difficult.

Awnings erected by the community to prevent the mining company from entering the coconut plantation, with signs reading ‘No trespassing – private property’ — People arrive to help, and the barricade grows (© CALG)

The fenced barricade sits directly on the truck road the company is building to push farther inland. Within hours, dozens of Pala’wan families gathered in solidarity. Vice Mayor Mary Jean Feliciano, who also opposes the mining project, stands with them, alongside SB member Jaymart Naigue, former IP councilor Victor Colili, church leaders and civil society groups. Calmia is operating without a mayor’s permit.

Global solidarity is growing

Join the growing international support for these communities by signing and sharing the Rainforest Rescue petition against mining in Palawan and Brooke’s Point:

https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/petitions/1324/philippines-stand-with-the-indigenous-resistance-to-nickel-mining-in-palawan

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