40 years after the people ousted Marcos Sr., attacks on IP, impunity persist under Marcos Jr.

[TAGALOG] 40 taon matapos pabagsakin ng mamamayan si Marcos Sr., atake sa mga Katutubo, kawalang pananagutan, nagpapatuloy sa ilalim ni Marcos Jr.

Forty years after the historic uprising at EDSA, the struggle for justice and democracy continues. The Indigenous Peoples across the Philippines assert their rights amid continuing human rights violations by the state and its forces. The spirit of People Power lives on in the collective struggles of communities who resist dispossession, exploitation, and repression today.

The Indigenous Peoples continue to face grave violations of their rights. Across the Cordillera, Mindoro, Palawan, and Mindanao, ancestral lands are threatened by large-scale mining, dam projects, and so-called development programs imposed without free, prior, and informed consent. In Nueva Vizcaya, the Indigenous Peoples, farmers, and residents in Dupax del Norte have mounted barricades against the destructive Woggle Mining Corporation, only to be met with violent dispersals, arrests, and intimidation. Their forests, farms, and watersheds are under threat, and their rightful defense of land and life is criminalized.

Communities are displaced, livelihoods destroyed, and sacred sites desecrated in the name of profit. Militarization intensifies in ancestral lands, with Indigenous leaders and organizations subjected to harassment, surveillance, and red-tagging. Extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests of Indigenous activists and advocates remain a chilling reality. Lumad schools in Mindanao remain forcibly closed, depriving Indigenous children of education and community-based learning.

The criminalization of solidarity has become a defining feature of state repression. The case of the Talaingod 13, composed of human rights defenders, teachers, church workers, and community organizers arrested and charged for accompanying Lumad children to safety amid militarization, shows how the law is weaponized to punish those who defend Indigenous Peoples' rights. This case exemplifies the broader pattern of harassment and intimidation faced by the Indigenous Peoples and their allies, designed to silence dissent and weaken movements for justice.

Bombings of Indigenous Peoples’ communities and continuing military operations in ancestral lands highlight the ongoing assault on the Indigenous Peoples. These violations not only endanger lives but also erode cultural survival and the right to self-determination. Despite these attacks, Indigenous Peoples’ communities persist in defending their lands, asserting their rights, and sustaining their collective struggles.

The persistence of corruption and political dynasties at the national level compounds these violations. Public resources are siphoned off through systemic graft, while the Indigenous Peoples and marginalized communities are denied basic services and protection. Forty years after the fall of Marcos Sr., the same patterns of abuse and impunity continue under Marcos Jr. and his allies, revealing the deep rot of a political system that prioritizes the interests of the few over the rights of the many.

Forty years on, genuine democracy cannot exist while corruption, repression, and dispossession persist. The struggle continues, and Panaghiusa will remain steadfast in advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples until justice and freedom are truly achieved. #