On 22 September 2024, Alberto Cuartero, village chair of Barangay Puyat in Carmen town, and Ronde Asis were shot dead by unidentified assailants in the nearby municipality of Madrid, in the Phillippines. Alberto was one of the local voices protesting mining operations' wanton destruction of Carmen’s natural environment. He helped expose bogus documents brandished by a mining proponent claiming to have earned the community’s consent to be affected.