27/04/2026
CENTRAL STATEMENT: Assert Our Right to Land, Life, and Livelihood!
Our Central Theme for this yearโs 42nd Peoplesโ Cordillera Day is our call in this time of global crisis: Assert our right to land, life, and livelihood.
The attacks by the United States and its ally Israel against countries with major oil reserves, such as Venezuela and Iran, have disrupted the global energy supply. For nations that import most of their oil, like the Philippines, the impact is severe. Our fuel prices have drastically increased, triggering a chain reaction of price hikes in essential and consumer goods.
The country now faces an economic and energy crisis that the Marcos Jr. government refuses to decisively address, despite its capacity to act. In just a few weeks, fuel prices soared unchecked due to the absurd policy of oil deregulation.
The transport sector in urban areas was the first to suffer. Jeepney drivers were left with nothing to bring home to their families. Farmers, meanwhile, faced rising transport costs while produce prices remained excruciatingly low. One by one, and then all at once, basic sectors were left on their own to grapple with the sudden, and in many cases impending, loss of their livelihoods.
In this context, the discourse on the countryโs energy supply is again highlighting the need to shift from fuel to renewable energy (RE) as a long-term solution. This is true, but the Cordillera experience on RE project applications is development aggression. The state has long been eyeing and treating the region as a resource-base, as profitable mountains and rivers. To this day, hundreds of such applications, proposed by foreign companies and the countryโs comprador big bourgeoisies, threaten Cordillera Indigenous communities and their ancestral lands. Active struggles against these projects are led by affected communities in the provinces of Apayao, Kalinga, Ifugao, and Mt. Province.
With the oil crisis fueling demands for energy transition and underscoring mining as a prerequisite for constructing renewable energy infrastructures, Marcos Jr. will likely seize this moment to again justify his own mining interests. The Marcos-Romualdez family is known to hold stakes in large-scale mining operations in the country, and since assuming power, the dictatorโs son has consistently campaigned for policies that fast-track mining applications.
In the Cordillera, decades of destructive operations by Benguet Corporation, Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc., Lepanto Mining, and Philex Mining Corporation remain unresolved. Under Marcos Jr.โs presidency, we expect no respite.
As we commemorate the 42nd Peoplesโ Cordillera Day through decentralized activities, we are compelled to foreground the impacts and implications of the global crisis to our communities, our homes, and down to our guts.
Assert our Right to Land
In publicly available records from the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) covering 2024 to the present, applications for renewable energy (RE) and large-scale mining projects across the Cordillera remain staggering in both number and scale. MGB Mining Tenement Maps list 106 applications, but when approved tenements, withdrawn, and inactive applications still counted in their statistics are included, the total rises to 179โcovering nearly 40% of the Cordilleraโs land area. For RE, 118 project applications remain on record, with hydropower projects topping the list.
Yet most of these projects cannot proceed, or are stalled, primarily due to widespread community opposition. The Saltan Dams along the Saltan River in Kalinga were shelved after proponent JBD Water Power, Inc. (JWPI) failed to follow through with the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) process for six months. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) was eventually forced to terminate the FPIC process, a fact only revealed when SUMKADD and CPA Kalinga re-submitted their petitions against the dams to the NCIP Regional Office on September 15, 2025. Meanwhile, the Alimit Hydropower Complex of SN-Aboitiz has been stalled for 13 years due to consistent opposition from affected communities in Ifugao. SN-Aboitiz is now collaborating with the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) to develop the projectโs irrigation component, a development that requires close vigilance, as any redesign or modification will necessitate a new FPIC process. Other notable projects, such as the Kalinga Geothermal Project of Aragorn Power and Energy and the Abra-Kalinga Wind Farm of JWPI, also remain delayed. In Mt. Province, the Mainit-Sadanga Geothermal Project of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is stuck at the FPIC stage for its feasibility study after the Sangguniang Bayan of Sadanga retracted its initial consent, citing expected community conflicts.
In Apayao, resistance against Pan Pacificโs cascade of eight dams along the Apayao-Abulug River intensified after Pan Pacific Renewable Power Philippines Corporation won bids for Gened 1, Gened 2, and the 2,000 MW Maton Pumped-Storage project in the 2025 Green Energy Auction (GEA) of the DoE. To consolidate and strengthen opposition, affected Isnag communities in Kabugao established Kaddu, a municipal anti-dam and environmental alliance, in January 2026.
Mining, however, has become increasingly aggressive. From 2024 to 2025, barricades erupted in Itogon and Mankayan, Benguet, and in Sallapadan, Abra, as mining firms insisted on pursuing their claims and operations. The most recent occurred in October 2025, when residents of Bulalacao and Guinaoang in Mankayan revived their barricade against Australian-owned Crescent Mining and Development Corporation. The company attempted to continue drilling despite an illegally renewed Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) issued by the MGB without FPIC. This was yet another case of the MGB issuing permits that mining companies interpreted as a green light for operations. In 2024, the MGB also issued an Authority to Verify Minerals (ATVM) to British-owned Yamang Mineral Corporation (YMC) for its Abra project, which YMC took as permission to begin explorationโprompting resistance from shocked and disturbed communities. In Kalinga, members of the Balatoc Indigenous Concern Group (BICG) are likewise taking action against similar FPIC violations.
Across the region, these violations and threats to ancestral land rights have been met with diverse opposition strategies. Communities have submitted piles of petitions, resolutions, and statements against destructive dams and mining projects to the NCIP and DENR, from regional to national offices. Yet these agencies have done little to address the concerns formally raised, often deflecting responsibility and pointing fingers at each other when confronted about FPIC violations.
Assert Our Right to Life!
Accompanying these development aggression projects is continuing militarization. In the last quarter of 2025, the 503rd Brigade of the 5th Infantry DivisionโPhilippine Army launched intense military operations in Pinukpuk, Kalinga, a province hosting nearly all types of RE project applications and even large-scale mining. These operations resulted in harassment of communities and families. Even relief missions conducted by peopleโs organizations and advocates for militarized communities were flagged and subjected to intense interrogation by military and police forces.
In other provinces, community leaders vocal in their opposition to RE and mining projects have been subjected to red-tagging, fear-mongering, and intimidation by military and police assets. Trumped-up charges and cases filed under terror lawsโsuch as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 and the Terrorist Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012โcontinue to burden activists and their families. Hearings are often postponed, prolonging the suffering of victims and their loved ones.
The number of political prisoners in the region is also rising. The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance has documented 23 individuals facing trumped-up charges of varying degrees. The most recent additions are eight Cordilleran individuals illegally arrested by police and military on March 11, 2026, in separate operations in Tarlac City and Quezon City. They are Peace Consultant Kennedy Bangibang, community doctor Ana Marie Rilloraza-Leung, Marc Mendiola, Ranee Francella Tuazon, Renato Gines, Javar Sugao, Theresa Forag, and Bobby Calsiyao. Friends, families, and organizations have publicly testified to their noble contributions to civil society. Their arrests once again highlight the injustice of a system where corrupt officials remain free while those who fight for genuine social change are treated as criminals or terrorists.
We have entered many court battles in recent years to assert our right to life, liberty, and security. Yet these battles alone cannot guarantee protectionโespecially under a fascist regime that shields the corrupt and silences the people. Still, we will persist, whether in the courts or in the parliament of the streets.
Assert Our Right to Livelihood!
In Baguio City, development aggression manifests through public-private partnership (PPP) projects, often branded as โmodernization,โ involving public services and infrastructure. Adding to the threat of the national public utility vehicle modernization programโwhich seeks to phase out jeepneysโthe Baguio local government entertained a market modernization proposal from SM. Scheduled for deliberation and finalization in 2025, the proposal was immediately met with resistance. Market vendors and concerned locals stormed Baguio City Hall in collective protest, recognizing that the partnership could lead to the loss of livelihoods and the privatization of a cherished site of commerce for all walks of life. In January 2026, SM withdrew the proposal, marking a victory for the people of Baguio who militantly asserted their right to livelihood.
Yet soon after this victory, the Cordillera felt the brunt of the global oil crisis. In Baguio City, the transport sector descended into chaos as fuel prices soared to unprecedented levels. Many jeepney drivers halted operations, unable to earn enough to support their families. Commuters endured worsening queues and longer waiting times. In other parts of the Cordillera, where agriculture sustains most of the population, the oil crisis pushed farming families to the brink of bankruptcy. Vegetable farmers, long burdened by low produce prices, faced rising costs for transportation, packing, and farm inputs. Once again, abandoned harvests dominated headlines, and stories emerged of farmers begging for buyers outside major trading centers. Marcos Jr. has rolled out projects and policies in response โlessening workdays, providing additional trucks for produce transport, offering free ridesโbut none address the root causes of the crisis. These measures cannot suffice while oil prices continue to soar unchecked. What is urgently needed is the removal of regressive taxes on goods and the junking of the Oil Deregulation Law to control prices and prevent a full economic meltdown. These should also be complemented by wage increases, compensation to farmers, provision of much needed post-harvest facilities, and other long-demanded needs of the countryโs main labor forces. With the rampant corruption exposed in 2025, Marcos Jr. cannot claim that we do not have the resources for such economic reliefs and services.
In Itogon, Benguet, where small-scale mining is the primary livelihood, pocket mines are being targeted by large-scale corporations. Benguet Corporation, Inc. has colluded with the MGB to issue stoppage orders against small-scale miners operating within the companyโs abandoned patent claims, such as in Dalicno. Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc (ISRI). has employed similar tactics, even resorting to violence. In Poblacion last year, ISRI company guards beat and mauled several miners to stop operations in areas covered by its applications.
Across these attacks on livelihood, we draw strength and lessons from the victory of Baguioโs market vendors. It is through concerted, organized, and militant action that communities can pressure companies and government alike to heed the peopleโs demands.
Carry On the Struggle!
Truly, there are many threats and issues that we, the peoples of the Cordillera, must confront. We need strength, courage, and perseverance as we stand against big business tycoons, foreign corporations, and even the Marcos Jr. administration. We must organize ourselves, intensify our protests, and build stronger solidarity with our fellow oppressed and exploited Filipino people. We must also study and gather to discuss new developments in government laws and policies affecting Indigenous Peoples, such as the revived autonomy bills, the proposed new FPIC guidelines, and the proposed amendments to the Renewable Energy Act. We must come up with a united position and strong recommendations, while sustaining our tradition of militant actions.
The tasks ahead are immense, but our decentralized Peoplesโ Cordillera Day celebrations will serve both as a start and a continuation of todayโs challenges. These are commitments we face head-on with unity, resolve, and collective assertion. Ipinget ti Karbengan para iti daga, biag, ken kabiagan!
