Four Years of Marcos Jr.: Four Years of Plunder, Militarization, and Impunity
Four Years of Marcos Jr.: Four Years of Plunder, Militarization, and Impunity
July 27, 2026
Four years under Marcos Jr. have demonstrated policies and actions that violate Indigenous Peoples' rights. Across the country, indigenous communities experience intensified plunder of ancestral lands through aggressive expansion of mining, energy, and other destructive projects. Communities defending their territories were met with militarization, criminalization, threats, harassment, intimidation, and other human rights violations. Rather than upholding Indigenous Peoples' rights, the Marcos Jr. government has deepened the dispossession of Indigenous Peoples and intensified repression against those who resist.
Under Marcos Jr., there is an exponential growth of mining projects that continue to violate Indigenous Peoples' right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). There are now 61 operating metallic mines, 735 approved mining permits, and 1,287 mining applications. The Philippines has become a hub of extractive industries, with more than half of mining tenements overlapping Indigenous territories. These projects do not bring development, but instead cause displacement, loss of livelihood, environmental destruction, and militarization. Harassment and political vilification run rampant in Indigenous communities with active mining operations and strong resistance movements, as seen in recent cases of Woggle Corporation mining in Dupax del Norte, North Luzon Mineral Resources Corporation (NLMRC) in Kasibu, Makilala Mining in Kalinga, Ipilan Mining in Palawan, and the various companies extracting nickel in Santa Cruz, Zambales.
Renewable energy (RE) projects have also boomed, increasing from 115 in 2021 to 1,329 projects in 2026. Although branded by the administration as clean and green energy, these projects operate under the same framework as traditional extractive industries. Like mining, Indigenous communities where these projects enter without genuine FPIC experience militarization and human rights violations. In December 2020, nine Tumandok leaders resisting the Jalaur Dam in Panay were massacred, while their communities continue to endure military harassment that started even before the massacre. Ayta communities were displaced from their ancestral lands and now face even greater economic hardship due to the Olongapo Solar Project by Aboitiz. The Buhawind Offshore Wind Farm likewise poses serious threats to the livelihoods of local fishing and Indigenous communities in Ilocos Norte.
Since Marcos Jr.'s last SONA, Indigenous Peoples continued to bear the brunt of relentless violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. The 203rd Infantry Brigade strafed and bombed Brgy. Cabacao, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, killing three Mangyan-Iraya children and student researcher Jerlyn Rose Doydora. Elements of the 76th Infantry Battalion tortured Mangyan-Iraya woman Dolores Solangon. In Bukidnon, soldiers of the 88th Infantry Battalion shot and killed Lumad woman Nenita Buscada after falsely claiming her as a member of the New People's Army. To this day, not a single soldier has been held accountable for these atrocities. In every one of these cases, the affected communities were confronting land grabbing and the entry of large-scale corporate projects into their territories.
These atrocities are neither accidental nor isolated. They form part of the Marcos Jr. regime's counterinsurgency war that weaponizes red-tagging, militarization, and terror against Indigenous communities defending their ancestral lands and right to self-determination. This state terror serves the interests of big business, particularly foreign corporations, and reinforces the continuing dominance of U.S. imperialism over the Philippines' land, resources, and development.
This year, Marcos Jr. once again exposed himself as the foremost U.S. Imperialist lapdog by entering the Pax Silica Initiative, a scheme that tramples Philippine sovereignty, destroys the environment, and violates the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Its planned 1,620-hectare AI infrastructure project in Tarlac will dispossess Ayta communities of their ancestral lands. BCDA President Joshua Bingcang's so-called "fact-checks" were nothing but propaganda to whitewash this imperialist project and suppress the growing outrage and resistance of the Filipino people.
From the very beginning, Marcos Jr, has shown utter contempt for Indigenous Peoples, who have defended and nurtured these lands for generations, only to hand them over to foreign capital and big business. He must be held accountable for his crimes, not only for unleashing destructive projects and state violence, but also for plundering public funds. A year after his hypocritical "Mahiya naman kayo" speech, not a single major corrupt official, including Marcos Jr. himself, the chief architect and beneficiary of corruption, has been brought to justice. Sara Duterte must likewise be convicted in her impeachment trial and permanently barred from holding public office.
Indigenous Peoples will not surrender our ancestral lands to imperialists, their local puppets, and plunderous corporations. We will intensify our struggle and defense of our territories. We will fight until Marcos Jr., Sara Duterte, and all those responsible for the exploitation, militarization, and destruction of our communities are brought to justice.
Defend Ancestral Lands! End Plunder and State Terror! Hold Marcos Jr. Accountable for Crimes Against Indigenous Peoples!
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Reference:
Funa-ay Claver Secretary-General ,
KATRIBU Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas
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