The brave defenders of the environment are true Christians

By Fr. Shay Cullen

The brave Filipinos defending the environment and ancestral lands from the insatiable greed of mining corporations, corrupt politicians, powerful dynasties and business empires are no match for the firepower of the mercenaries paid by these entities and by some corrupt military officials.

The environmental and human rights organization Global Witness has said 17 of these defenders were murdered in 2023 — the highest toll in Asia and the Pacific, and among the 196 slain worldwide that year — and seven more in 2024. These add to the 300 who were killed or forcibly disappeared (and presumed dead) since 2012.

These Filipino defenders not only sacrificed their lives for their people and Creation, but also faced severe harassment from the authorities, not unlike Jesus of Nazareth. No fewer than 140 Filipino environmental activists and rights defenders — the highest in Asia — were harassed, threatened, arbitrarily arrested and beaten in 2023 and 2024.

Many more defenders of Creation — true Christians, ready to suffer and even sacrifice themselves to protect people’s rights — are threatened by “red-tagging.” The military has branded environmental defenders as communist rebels or terrorists to justify its brutal violation of their human rights. It has also slapped false criminal charges on them. All these despite the Supreme Court ruling in May 2024 that red-tagging and similar moves are illegal, as these pose a threat to a person’s “right to life, liberty and security.” But the defenders’ rights continue to be violated.

In March 2024, two environmental and Indigenous rights activists, Francisco “Eco” Dangla III and Joxielle “Jak” Tiong, were red-tagged and abducted by state authorities in Pangasinan. They were detained for several days before their release after legal representation came to their aid. There was no evidence against them. The rule of law is not respected by those in authority who act with impunity. For them, might is right. Local and international human rights groups have also documented state-sponsored online harassment that is targeting young human rights defenders campaigning online.

In May 2024, 10 Indigenous people were arrested in Palawan during a peaceful protest to defend a forest from a mining company that was cutting hundreds of trees there. The bank accounts of the Leyte-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) Center for Environmental Concerns and Resources Development were frozen in May 2024 following “baseless accusations” of “terrorism financing,” the Action Network Human Rights-Philippines group said.

In 2025, the organization Both ENDS reported that its partner, the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, received a tip about a planned raid on its office by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, allegedly for the “recruitment of rebels.” The raid was apparently thwarted.

In June 2025, a joint communication sent to the United Nations reported the ongoing surveillance and harassment of activists from the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice in Cebu, which has been occurring since at least 2023. This included an attempted break-in at their office in February 2025.

In September 2025, three cyclists were arrested during a protest in Manila. They were only watching it and not directly involved. Still, they were nabbed without a warrant and held for more than 36 hours. The Philippines is becoming like an authoritarian state.

GREATER DEVASTATION

The global climate crisis is wreaking greater devastation around the world, especially in the Philippines, where its people are reeling from revelations of massive corruption in flood control projects that involved prominent politicians and heads of corporations. Results of a Pulse Asia survey conducted from Sept. 27 to 30 found that 97 percent of respondents believe that corruption in government is widespread. Seventy-eight percent believe it is “very widespread,” while 20 percent say it is “somewhat widespread.” The survey also showed that 90 percent of Filipinos believe there is close collusion between politicians and private contractors.

Deforestation and environmental devastation due to mining activities and land grabbing are areas where corrupt politicians and mining executives work together to deprive people of their lands and forests. Their corrupt projects divert the natural flow of rivers and cut down trees.

The Philippine government claims that, as of 2022, approximately 24 percent of the country’s total land area, or 7.22 million hectares, remains forested. But NGOs and conservation groups like the Center for Sustainability PH claim that only less than 3 percent of the original, old-growth rainforest is still intact. The government forestry counts secondary growth as forest cover and shows a massive loss of forests: from 17.8 million ha in 1934, today it’s now 7.22 million ha. Among the aforementioned 3 percent are those in remote areas of Palawan, Mindoro and Mindanao.

These and other ancestral lands are under assault by multinational corporations partnered with Philippine firms and those operating with government permits. Despite many protests by the brave environmental defenders, NGOs and church-based groups, many corporations continue ravaging the environment with impunity, protected by private security companies usually made up of former soldiers. They are assisted by counter-insurgency state troops who are protecting mining corporations and branding defenders of the environment and ancestral lands as terrorists or communist rebels. Their red-tagging gives them license to arrest, detain, torture and even kill these defenders and protesters.

The Philippines has clearly shown little respect for human rights and the Constitution in this matter. The Rule of Law Index of the World Justice Project and the Human Freedom Index both put the Philippines at 99th place out of 142 countries. In East Asia and the Pacific, the country ranks 13th out of 15 nations. These indices highlight the country’s persistent violations of human rights, corruption and criminal justice.

It can be said that many in Congress and the oligarchs run the country like a business enterprise. They control wages, create a poor and hungry workforce, plunder our natural resources for their own gain, and loot the Treasury of trillions of pesos, as the “Floodgate” scandal showed. The nation is like a ship; its leaders, the vessel’s crew; and the Filipino people, its cargo. The captain and his crew are drunk with power and greed as they sail blindly into a looming storm.