The recent visit of Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Leila de Lima in Didipio last 05 November is commendable and shows seriousness and sincerity on the part of the commission to undertake a top level investigation with regards to complaints of human rights violations committed by OceanaGold Philippines Inc (OceanaGold) against the indigenous peoples’ residents of Barangay Didipio, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya.

The chair of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights has spoken out against the OceanGold mine construction that is threatening Indigenous residents of Didipio—the focus of a Cultural Survival Global Response campaign. “It’s time to put an end to this,” said Leila M. De Lima. The ongoing conflict escalated into violence when more than 100 Philippine National Police officers used teargas and truncheons to break up a human barricade on October 1, 2009.