Global mission exposes rights abuses in rural Philippines

By Dulce Amor Rodriguez
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — International delegates have denounced the intertwined crises of corruption, militarization, and climate injustice in rural and indigenous communities across the Philippines, following a five-day solidarity mission in Rizal, Occidental Mindoro, Leyte, and Negros Occidental held last Oct. 11 to 15. 

The International Learning and Solidarity Mission (ILSM), organized by the Peoples Rising for Climate Justice (PRCJ), concluded its field visit with a report detailing large-scale land grabbing, forced displacement, and environmental destruction allegedly linked to government-backed projects and private corporations. 

Delegates from the United States, Australia, Catalonia (Spain), and Japan joined local organizations including Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), and the Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC).

Negros: Palm oil expansion displaces hundreds

In Negros Occidental, delegates investigated the 6,652-hectare palm oil expansion of Hacienda Asia Plantations Inc. (HAPI), owned by the Consunji family. The plantation operates under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) forest management agreement, yet has reportedly displaced over 350 small farmers and indigenous residents in Candoni.

HAPI’s expansion, which began in 2021, has cleared more than 4,000 hectares of forest, flattening fields and eroding rivers that once sustained farming communities. The Bagatban and Tigmaya Rivers—previously sources of fish, snails, and edible plants—are now “biologically dead” due to siltation.

Farmers said they receive only P480 ($8.50) a day for backbreaking labor at the plantation. The mission called for the immediate cancellation of HAPI’s Integrated Forest Management Agreement and the withdrawal of military units deployed around the plantation.

“Farmers report dozens of bulldozers flattening fields within hours,” said former Anakpawis Rep.  Ariel Casilao, now with the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura. “This shows the massive, cold-hearted corporate push behind the Candoni oil-palm plantation.”

The delegation also met with local residents like Victoria Marcila, a widow who lost her three-hectare ancestral land to the company. When HAPI blocked the road to her farm, she was forced to carry her produce through longer, more costly routes.

In Sitio Cogon, Elman Estefano, a Magahat farmer, said HAPI guards uprooted his newly planted corn, destroying his family’s food supply. When he sought help from the local agriculture office, he was told the company had legal ownership and was warned he could face jail if he returned to his land.

Mindoro: Indigenous people face hunger and harassment

In Occidental Mindoro, delegates documented police and military surveillance while visiting the Mangyan-Iraya community in Sitio Malatabako, Abra de Ilog, where residents face displacement due to land claims by Pieceland Corporation.

Since May 2024, Pieceland has allegedly imposed a food blockade, causing hunger and even the death of an indigenous woman. The company filed criminal cases against the Iraya under the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA)—a law meant to protect indigenous communities.

Mission participants said heavily armed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel entered the community during their visit under the guise of an “outreach activity.”

Leyte: Fisherfolk resist a billion-peso causeway

In Tacloban, Leyte, delegates surveyed the ongoing Cancabato Bay Causeway project, a 2.56-kilometer road embankment and land reclamation plan that is rapidly altering the coastal ecosystem. 

The structure, built by Sunwest Construction and Development Corp., threatens mangrove forests planted and maintained by local fisherfolk, which act as living storm barriers and marine nurseries.

For over a decade, residents say they themselves replanted nearly half of the forest density in Paraiso village after Typhoon Haiyan, using mangroves as a natural buffer. The causeway’s construction involves bulldozing these trees and dumping concrete and soil into Cancabato Bay’s waters, raising fears of flooding, coastal erosion, and lost livelihoods.

Community leaders warn that the embankment may block tidal flow, alter marine currents, and disrupt movement of fish and shellfish. One caretaker of the Paraiso Mangrove Eco Learning Park said the project could pollute the bay, kill sea life, and dismantle years of community effort.

“Instead of spending billions on reclamation that endangers fishers and mangroves, the government should restore natural protection,” said Gijs, a delegate from the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle. “Mangroves shield communities from storms. Their loss means more lives [are] at risk.”

Rizal: Kaliwa Dam threatens Dumagat-Remontado communities

In Rizal province, the proposed Kaliwa Dam continues to draw strong opposition from Dumagat-Remontado communities who say the project violates their right to ancestral land and self-determination. The dam, financed through a $211-million loan from China Energy Engineering Corp., will flood parts of the Sierra Madre mountain range and submerge indigenous settlements and farmlands.

According to indigenous leaders, the dam’s construction will destroy forest reserves and the Kaliwa River watershed, their primary source of food and water. Community representatives told the United Nations Human Rights Council that China, as the project’s financier, has violated international human rights obligations by funding a development that endangers Indigenous life and culture.

Environmental experts have also warned that altering the Sierra Madre’s hydrology could worsen flooding and landslides across eastern Luzon. They said that by clearing forests and diverting rivers, the project threatens to eliminate a key natural barrier against storms.

Delegates said the mission revealed how corruption and militarization intensify the climate crisis by displacing communities that protect forests, rivers, and farmlands.

“These communities are living proof that corruption and militarization deepen the climate crisis,” said Rachelle Junsay, spokesperson of People’s Rising for Climate Justice. “Public funds and power are being used to destroy the very people protecting our lands and forests.”

The mission urged the Philippine government and the international community to cancel destructive projects, withdraw security forces from peasant and indigenous areas, redirect public funds toward climate-resilient infrastructure and ecosystem restoration, and hold corporations and officials accountable for environmental and human rights violations.

Delegates said only by addressing these interconnected crises can the country achieve genuine climate justice. (AMU, RVO)

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