A Call from Indigenous Women: Dream! Fight

Over 60 Indigenous women and girls gathered for the annual National Indigenous Women Gathering 2025 on July 30, 2025 in Quezon City, Philippines. We came from the Ayta Abellen, Dumagat, Tadyawan Mangyan, and Palaw'an communities in Luzon; the Ata-Bukidnon, Bukignon, and Ituman Magahat Bukidnon in the Visayas; and the Manobo, Mamanwa, Higaonon, Teduray, Lambangian, Erumanen ne Menuvu, Taboli, T'boli, Dulangan Manobo/Manobo Dulangan, Blaan, Subanen, Mansaka, Kirinteken-Pulangiyen Manobo, and Manobo in Mindanao. We stood together in solidarity to make our voices heard and to tell the government the truth about the struggles Indigenous women face.

We are deeply disappointed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. once again failed to mention us and the many challenges we face as Indigenous Peoples. This is already his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), and yet Indigenous Peoples, including women, still remain outside the priorities of the government.

The government made no mention of the thousands of ancestral lands still awaiting the processing of their Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT). The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) recognizes our right to ancestral lands and to self-determination through the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) process. But the theft of our land continues unabated despite this. Giant mining operations, plantations, mega-dams, logging, tourism, and energy projects are still at the forefront of this violent land grabbing. What’s worse, the government and oligarchs – the rich and powerful families – continue to collude with them, all while being protected by the armed forces of the state. Aren't government officials, soldiers, and police meant to serve the people?

We are plunged into a deepening crisis of food, health, climate, and human rights because of the continuous seizure and desecration of our ancestral lands. Our situation is made even more difficult by limited access to basic social services and support for our daily needs. The aid we receive during times of calamity, militarization, and forced displacement is scarce, if it comes at all.

What used to be our farmlands are now just deep mining pits. We can no longer set foot in the forests where we used to gather medicine, food, and livelihood. We have become strangers in our own homes and day laborers on what was once our own land. Young Indigenous women are often forced into child marriages because of poverty and hunger. This robs them of their right to self-determination and denies them the chance to pursue their dreams. These marriages are frequently followed by early pregnancies, which place lasting strain on their young bodies, and expose them to various forms of violence and abuse.

Another problem we face is inequality and painful experiences of discrimination due to our Indigenous identity, gender, age, social status, education level, language, and disability. But the government's solutions remain limited to modernization, business, and foreign investments. They are only addressing the symptoms and not the root cause of society's true illness. Where is the response to the many violations of our right to live with dignity and freedom?

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that we have achieved the peace we longed for in the BARMM. Is it peace when the number of killings of non-Moro Indigenous Peoples continues to rise? Can it be called peace when impunity persists in cases of violence against human rights defenders? Can it be called peace when there is a seemingly endless cycle of trampling on our human rights and forcibly silencing us whenever we fight back?

We continue to dream of a better life, one that uplifts each of us. We dream of living in peace, with comfort, freedom, and joy, within our ancestral lands and together with our community. The dreams we weave together remain our source of strength, courage, and hope.

For our dreams, we will not be silenced and will continue to call for:

• For our dream of living peacefully and comfortably on our ancestral lands, the State must:
• Accelerate the processing of Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) and complete the registration and titling of our lands;
• Ensure a proper, correct, and fair FPIC process for all projects and programs entering ancestral lands;
• Close down massive projects such as mining, plantations, mega-dams, logging, tourism, and energy projects with a history of human rights violations, questionable FPIC, and environmental destruction;
• Repeal the Philippine Mining Act and pass the Alternative Minerals Management Bill;
• Recognize, respect, and provide financial and technical support for ADSDPPs and community development plans;
• Ensure that Indigenous communities have sufficient, appropriate, and immediate aid or support during times of calamity, militarization, and forced displacement;
• Ensure that Indigenous women and girls have access to basic social services that are sufficient and appropriate for our culture and context, such as complete health facilities (with a regular doctor, nurse, midwife, and sufficient medicine), farm-to-market roads, free quality education, fair access to scholarship grants, and free lighting and water; and
• Make public and private establishments accessible for Indigenous persons with disabilities and senior citizens.
• For our dream as Indigenous girls to have the life we choose, where our decisions are valued and where we are safe from violence, the State must:
• End child marriage through the proper implementation of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act;
• Ensure that no more young girls give birth and that they have sufficient access to education and information about sexuality and reproductive health and rights; and
• Pass the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill which ensures that young women have access to reproductive services.
• For our dream that no more Indigenous women human rights defenders are killed or harmed, the State must:
• Immediately respond to the alarming killings and violence against non-Moro Indigenous Peoples (NMIPs) in the BARMM;
• Hold perpetrators accountable through serious investigation, prosecution, and imprisonment;
• Abolish the NTF-ELCAC, the Anti-Terrorism Law, and Executive Order No. 70, which authorize soldiers and police to red-tag; and
• Pass the Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill.
• For our dream of being part of our community’s and nation's progress, the State must:
• Open or create spaces where the voices of Indigenous women and girls are heard;
• Ensure the meaningful participation and representation of Indigenous women and girls in decision-making and political processes, such as local special bodies, local youth development councils, and various levels of development councils; and
• Recognize the contributions of Indigenous women and girls in protecting the environment, producing food, taking care of one another and the community, creating solutions against the worsening effects of climate change, and ensuring the true progress of the people.

Continuing to dream, continuing to fight.

Agreed upon at:

National Indigenous Women Gathering 2025
HINGAWA: Këd wagib para të këupianan
July 30, 2025
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines