Mining governance in the Philippines: governance mechanisms and stakeholder experiences

Mining governance is essential for balancing mineral development with environmental protection, social equity, and sustainable resource management. In the Philippines, mining governance is implemented through regulatory, social, and community-based mechanisms that seek to protect indigenous rights, promote community development, and formalize artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). However, limited research has examined how these governance mechanisms interact in practice and how they collectively influence governance outcomes. This study investigates the interactions among governance mechanisms, institutional relationships, and stakeholder experiences in shaping mining governance in the town of Itogon, Benguet Province, Philippines, where large-scale mining and ASM coexist. Data were collected using a key informant interviews and focus group discussions involving government agencies, mining companies, Indigenous Peoples’ representatives, local government officials, community leaders, and ASM stakeholders. The data were then analyzed using thematic analysis and interpreted using a political ecology framework. The findings indicate that mining governance is characterized by centralized decision-making, uneven stakeholder participation, barriers to equitable access to formal governance arrangements, fragmented institutional coordination, persistent environmental governance challenges, and unequal distribution of mining benefits. Although existing governance mechanisms provide an important institutional framework, their implementation is shaped by power relations, institutional capacity, and local socio-environmental conditions, resulting in different experiences and outcomes among stakeholder groups. The results demonstrate that mining governance is better understood by examining the interactions among governance mechanisms, institutions, and stakeholder experiences rather than individual governance instruments in isolation. These findings provide an integrated understanding of mining governance and offer empirical evidence to support more transparent, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable governance of mineral resources in the Philippines and other resource-dependent regions.