Blocked

The recently concluded mining summit may have resolved some of the outstanding fiscal issues constraining the growth of our mining industry.

- ALEX MAGNO

But many other problems closer to the ground discourage investments in mineral extraction.

Earlier this month, Woggle Corporation managed to secure a restraining order against protesters that blocked a public road leading to their mine. The blockade interrupted exploration operations since August and imposed financial costs on the investor.

The protests are said to have been instigated by local politicians who lost in the previous elections — although clothed as environmental advocacy. When they were in power, these politicians were extorting from the mining investor. Blocking mining operations appears to be the new way of perpetuating old forms of corruption.

The restraining order commands the so-called protesters from maintaining the barricade erected along the Keon Barangay Road close to the junction with the Aritao-Quirino Road, a national highway. Blocking the road is in itself an illegal act.

In issuing a restraining order, the court agreed with the plaintiff Woggle Corporation that the illegal blocking of road access caused the investor to suffer irreparable damage and “grave injustice.” The court directed the director of the Nueva Vizcaya Police Provincial Office to assist the sheriff in serving the order.

The barricade is expected to be dismantled — although it forced the investor to seek a court order against a patently illegal act.