Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines, Rise Up! Resist Marcos Jr.!

Resist corruption! Resist plunder!

Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines, Rise Up! Resist Marcos Jr.!

September 21, 2025

Today, we remember the horrors of Martial Law of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. - a period of plunder, corruption, and violence that left deep scars on our people. For Indigenous Peoples, Martial Law meant militarization of our lands, displacement of communities, and the plundering of our ancestral territories through dams, logging, and mining projects forced upon us. Our resistance led to arrests, torture, and killings of Indigenous leaders, activists, and innocent civilians.

Fifty-three years later, the legacy of tyranny continues under his son’s presidency, Marcos Jr. He is not only the heir of his father’s ill-gotten wealth but now the chief engineer of flooding and corruption in our time. The recent ghost and substandard flood control projects of the DPWH are merely a symptom of the problem. A single entity does not cause corruption and plunder, but it is a systemic problem that Marcos Jr. actively perpetuates.

The flooding that devastates our communities is a disaster of nature. It is a disaster of corruption and plunder. Billions of pesos are pocketed through anomalous projects, while the Filipinos, including Indigenous Peoples, are left to suffer the consequences. The regime’s greed and negligence leave us submerged, literally in floodwaters, and politically under a system drowning in corruption.

Under Marcos Jr., the aggressive push for dams and destructive mining has also intensified. Each so-called “development project” brings the destruction of ancestral lands, displacement of Indigenous Peoples, and environmental destruction. Like his father, Marcos Jr. treats the ancestral domains as profit grounds for corporations and foreign imperialists.

As such, Indigenous Peoples continue to fight back and resist. Recognizing that the state will never willingly recognize our rights, grant justice, and peace. Just as in Martial Law, some pursue the parliamentary path, while others take up arms. Even as Marcos Jr. boasts in his speeches that there are no more guerrilla zones, the resistance of the people, especially Indigenous Peoples, only grows. As communities rise against corruption, poverty, and injustice, his National Action Plan for Unity, Peace, and Development also serves to open the floodgates for further violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

The time to fight is now. Indigenous Peoples stand with the Filipino masses in demanding accountability from all the corrupt and in building a future free from tyranny and plunder.

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Reference:

Beverly Longid

National Convener

Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas