Published on Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Before the reclamation works in Navotas City, Aron Escarial,25, a mussel farmer, could earn at least P1,000 ($57) a day or more from harvesting tahong (mussel). His work sustained not just his own but also his aging mother, who has suffered multiple strokes.
But since their mussel farms were demolished in 2024 to make way for the resumption of a San Miguel Corporation-led reclamation project, Escarial’s livelihood has been reduced to scraps.
On days when he’s lucky, he earns P300 ($17) to P500 ($28) by tagging along on other fishing trips. On other days, he earns nothing.
“It’s really saddening because we used to have our own mussel farm and our own boat. Now, I just ride with others. Sometimes, we even have to race to see who gets to come along,” Escarial shared.
Read: Navotas fishers struggle as Manila Bay reclamation expands
Across the Philippines, many communities are losing their livelihoods and homes in the name of so-called development projects causing environmental destruction. With Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s presidency already at the halfway mark, the state of the Philippine environment is caught between lofty climate pledges and worsening ecological destruction.
Reforestation and mining
In a forum last July 11 in Quezon City, Joice Leray, research and advocacy coordinator of the Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC), summed up the state of the Philippine environment under the Marcos Jr. administration: “Maskara ng Kalikasan, Mukha ng Kasakiman.”
She criticized the administration’s continuation of the Enhanced National Greening Program (eNGP), a government initiative supposedly focused on reforestation and maintenance and protection of existing forests, which will end in 2028, and has received billions in funding, but often plants invasive species like mahogany, damaging local ecosystems.
Leray cited an investigative report by Davao Today about the National Greening Program (NGP) stating that “as many as one in every 25 hectares of NGP land experienced a major deforestation event.”
Leray also criticized policies like the Sustainable Forest Land Management Agreement, launched last June, which her group thinks will open public forests to big businesses and will give the private sector rights to exploit land and other natural resources.
Meanwhile, mining operations continue to expand, pushing indigenous peoples, farmers, and fisherfolk into deeper marginalization.
In mining alone, almost 650,000 hectares of land across the country are now covered by concessions, roughly the size of the land area of 10 Metro Manila.
Read: 30 Years of Mining Plunder: A Comprador Capture of the Philippines
“But despite its widespread impact, mining contributes only 1% to the gross domestic product and less than 1% to employment,” said Leray.
She also named several prominent politicians who have business interests in mining, including the president’s cousin and the Speaker of the House, Martin Romualdez, incumbent Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, former San Juan Congressman Ronaldo Zamora, and former senators Senator Manuel Villar, Francis Tolentino, and Gilbert Teodoro.
‘How just is just’?
For Maria Fun-ay Claver of Katribu, the problem is not just about renewable energy, but about justice.
“We ask, how just is just?” she asked.
“Of course, for us indigenous peoples, we want an energy transition. But these should be investigated: is there a difference with what we experienced from non-renewable and renewable energy? For now, it’s the same. It’s both destructive,” lamented Claver.
She added that the processes for securing permissions and permits for renewable energy projects still have elements of deception, manipulation and coercion in indigenous communities.
In the Cordillera, Claver pointed out, even companies branding themselves as “renewable” or “green” bring in private guards and harass indigenous peoples who resist.
“The reality stands, it does not have a good impact on our communities,” she said.
Read: Indigenous peoples raise alarm over rising rights violations
During her keynote address, Leray asserted that the Philippines remain the most dangerous country in Asia for environmental defenders, as reported by Global Witness in 2024.
She said that CEC and Kalikasan documented 47 killings of environmental defenders under the Marcos Jr. administration.
Escarial attested that he experienced harassment from alleged state forces after he had been vocal against the reclamation projects in Navotas.
He spoke about the military harassment faced by fisherfolk in his community. He claimed that armed men identifying themselves as soldiers from the NCR Command went door-to-door, collecting names and pressuring locals to abandon protests against reclamation.
“We were being followed and our names were being taken. One of our companions was even held at gunpoint by the coast guard during the demolition,” Escarial narrated.
But despite the fear, Escarial insists on fighting back.
“If you let fear take over, you won’t be able to fight. This is not just Navotas’ problem, it’s the problem of the entire nation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Africa asserted that the tragedies facing the environment are by design.
“The time has passed when businessmen ran public services. We need a government that is serious about implementing humane solutions,” Africa said.
While the government brands its energy shift as ‘green’, environmental defenders warn that when such projects trample on rights, ignore consent, and profit off ancestral lands, they cease to be a solution and just another form of plunder. (AMU, RVO)