THERE is a long-running war in the Philippines, and it is being waged by three super-rich mining corporations in Palawan against the Filipino people and God’s creation there. The firms are planning to cut down more than 188,765 magnificent primeval trees with permits from their contacts in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Their impending destruction is likely without the approval of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. This environmental crime will be laid on his doorstep unless he stops it.
Ongoing open-pit-mining operations are being compared to environmental crime scenes, as the mining companies named below, with the DENR’s approval, have planned to wreak more devastation. The nickel ore extracted from such operations is of little benefit to the Filipino people. It enriches the Chinese, who get 90 percent of the raw ore exports to make the stainless steel and batteries that are sold back to the Philippines. The rest are exported to Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. Two Japanese-owned processing plants in the Philippines semi-process the raw ore and export it to Japan. The Filipino people get no benefit because corrupt officials divert the funds earned when the mining companies pay taxes. Most of the nickel extraction and refining is funded by Japanese state-owned banks.
The destruction of Philippine rainforests deprives every Filipino and environmentalist of these magnificent natural wonders, their wildlife and their protective climate cover. The trees targeted by mining companies with DENR permits are not covered by the moratorium passed by the Palawan provincial government in March 2025. Gov. Dennis Socrates led the provincial government in declaring a 50-year moratorium on all new pending mining applications in Palawan under Provincial Ordinance 3646. It is designed to guard and protect the rainforests’ unique status as the only original old-growth rainforest in the country. The “last ecological frontier,” they say of Palawan, which also has huge mangroves and coral reefs. The mining firms are expanding their open-pit or surface mining operations by cutting millions of trees in the process. Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Taytay told religious leaders to take a stand to protect the forests and speak out against environmental destruction, and called on the people to save Creation.
Palawan as a whole was designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Man and Biosphere Reserve in 1990 and is revered worldwide as a rare home of species found nowhere else on Earth. Its forests are full of rare and unique species, such as the Palawan bearcat, Palawan pangolin, and the majestic Manggis tree. These forests have an immense capacity to absorb carbon dioxide and hold back climate change and protect the nearby marine life in the Coral Triangle. Indigenous communities have lived in Palawan for millennia.
Environmental villains
Now come the villains, the moguls behind this planned environmental devastation, as they move to expand their operations. Environmental advocates point out that massive swathes of primary forest and ancestral lands have already been cut down and cleared. In Berong, the DENR has authorized the cutting of additional 26,617 trees at one time. Like in the flood-control corruption scandal, more dirty money is passing hands. Bishop Pabillo said reforestation was “a big lie.” Tree nurseries and seedlings cannot replace a thousand-year-old primeval rainforest.
The Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. (RTNMC) and Ipilan Nickel Corp. are destroying the rainforests. RTNMC is the oldest and largest subsidiary of Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC), which holds a controlling 60-percent equity stake in the company. Its board chairman is no less than Jose Isidro “Lito” N. Camacho. He serves as the NAC group chairman, overseeing its governance. Then there is Maria Patricia Z. Riingen, the board’s vice chairman, and President and CEO Martin Antonio “Dennis” G. Zamora. Zamora directs the executive operations of both the NAC and RTNMC. They also own 65 percent of Taganito, and 100 percent of the Cagdianao, Hinatuan and Dinapigue operations. Ipilan operates in Brooke’s Point in southern Palawan. It plans to cut down 60,359 trees. Berong Nickel Corp. (BNC) operates in Aborlan in central Palawan and is planning to cut down 71,405 trees.
The people behind these corporations are immensely wealthy, but it seems money is never enough for them. The good, innocent people named here, perhaps, know nothing about the destruction and permanent irreparable damage their companies are doing to the Filipino people. History will never forget or forgive them.
Perhaps, they suffer from misinformation or are ignorant of the destruction being done, which is condemned around the world. In destroying the Philippines’ rainforests, driving wildlife and rare species to extinction, and damaging marine life, they are part of a crime against nature and the Filipino people. Shame on those who allow it. They will provide no benefit whatsoever for Filipinos; they will leave behind a washed-out, denuded wilderness. God’s creatures — trees, flowers, animals and people — all gone, forever.
This environmental crime scene is made possible by the DENR that has granted these companies special tree cutting and earth-balling permits (STC/EP) to make room for open-pit mining operations. These operations are supported by a 25-year national mineral production sharing agreements (MPSA) handled by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB). The mining companies need to get an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) to ensure adherence to ecological laws, free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities if the mining area overlaps with ancestral domains, and local government unit endorsement from the host community. These they do not have, according to local church groups and networks like the Save Palawan Movement and Alyansa Tigil Mina. They have bravely stood with Indigenous peoples and launched major campaigns exposing corrupt government-approved permits. They are fighting to block the STC/EPs that threaten to clear over another 218,000 trees across Brooke’s Point, Bataraza, and Aborlan.
On Sept. 1, Pope Leo XIV opened the season of creation and warned that war and environmental degradation were driving a “vicious cycle” of ecological destruction, poverty and further conflict in the world. War against the environment, against people, and against creation is destroying the habitat and the life of the people. We do well to heed Pope Leo’s words: “War also leaves behind social and ecological destruction that endures for generations.”
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