ADVOCACY groups have denounced the mining operations in the Philippines amid the devastating storms that hit the country recently.
"People of the South have to demand reparations and payment for the Global North countries' ecological debt they continue to owe. Countries such as the Philippines must demand trillions for these catastrophes brought by their massive extraction," Fara Gamalo, leader of climate campaigner group Freedom from Debt Coalition in Eastern Visayas region.
As they demanded climate justice, Gamalo accused the rich countries of their "highly extractivist economies," turning to countries of the Global South to extract raw materials and minerals to feed the demands for highly industrialized economies.
"These are the reasons why widespread environmental destruction and rampant rights abuses will occur," Gamalo told SunStar Philippines on Monday, November 10, 2025.
Ricardo Todio Jr., liaison officer of youth climate group Panaad ha Sinirangan-Association of Young Environmental Journalists (AYEJ) in Leyte province of the central Philippines, said they are aware that "our communities are being weakened by nickel mining. "
"Thousands of people were displaced by Typhoon Tino, to be specific here in Leyte, and now, Super Typhoon Uwan is showing our vulnerability when these natural barriers and forests we have are destroyed. Lives are at risk when climate rights are upheld," Custodio said in an interview.
"Let us not forget that human justice is environmental justice. We can't wait for another storm because we shouldn't have to suffer for something that should have been avoided in the first place," he said.
Earlier, US-based Climate Rights International (CRI) released a 104-page report, "Broken Promises:” Philippines Nickel Mining Causes Rights Abuses and Increases Climate Vulnerability, saying that "Nickel mining is making local communities more vulnerable to climate impacts, including extreme weather events."
The Philippines is tagged as the world's second-largest producer and leading exporter of raw nickel ore.
"Nickel mining operations drive deforestation and the loss of species that provide climate resilience, such as terrestrial and mangrove forests. When deforestation occurs, carbon stored in both plant matter and soil may be released into the atmosphere, turning a carbon sink into a source of emissions," it said.
The report is based on the group's interview with 57 residents and workers who live near nickel mines in Dinagat Island and Surigao del Sur in the Caraga Region of Mindanao, the heart of the Philippines’ mining industry.
Caraga Region has 23 operating nickel mines, more than any other region in the Philippines, it said.
"Residents in Tubajon on Dinagat Island in Mindanao described how the loss of forests and mangroves due to mining operations and mining-related pollution has made their communities more exposed to storm surges, high winds, and flooding during extreme weather events like the devastating Super Typhoon Odette in 2021," the CRI report said in November.
In a statement to the media, CRI researcher Krista Shennum maintained the Philippine government "needs to prioritize the rights and well-being of frontline mining communities—who bear no responsibility for the climate crisis—by holding companies accountable for abuses and environmental harms.”
Reacting to the CRI findings, Carlos Conde, a prominent Filipino rights advocate, said that "CRI report highlights the real suffering of mostly poor Filipinos who live near or around nickel mining communities."
"Compounding their suffering is the negligence and inaction by the national and local governments," said Conde in a report from Catholic new site UCA News on November 11.
"The government has always been pro-mining, but we see the toll of that in the plight of these poor communities and the devastation by typhoons such as Typhoon Tino now and then. It's time to take the climate crisis seriously," Conde added.
'Unabated mining'
John Lazaro, national coordinator of progressive Filipino youth group Spark, said the CRI report "clearly demonstrates the danger of unabated mining and the need for the transition to clean energy to be rooted in climate justice, and not the blind pursuit of profit."
"Our country already carries a disproportionate share of the burden of the climate crisis compared to Global North countries. Opening up more mining to extract transition minerals will further erode what little resilience we have to the effects of climate change," Lazaro said.
"We see no need to allow for more mining. Existing mines could already produce more than enough copper and nickel to supply the Philippines’ needs to fully transition its generation capacity. The issue is not whether we are extracting enough but whether we have access to these metals, given that most of these are exported as raw ores," he added.
As this developed, the Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) said that "caring for the environment is an inherent responsibility and is the cornerstone of our operations."
"Through reforestation, rehabilitation, water management, and biodiversity protection, we work to ensure that progress and development do not come at the cost of the environment," PNIA said in a statement posted on its social media account on November 5.
As of its December 2024 data, PNIA said a total of P1.1 billion was spent on environmental programs by its members, including 35.1 million trees planted, covering 14,612 hectares.
Nickel mineral is used to create different products, electric vehicle batteries, mobile phones, turbines, jet propellers, coins, cutlery, and cars, among others. (Ronald Reyes/SunStar Philippines)