Mindanao groups challenge Marcos on rights, environmental issues

QUEZON CITY — Ahead of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA), a broad coalition of clergy, Indigenous Peoples (IP), Moro leaders, and rights advocates convened at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman on Wednesday to present a “people’s assessment” of Mindanao, demanding an end to systemic displacement and justice for the “Talaingod 13.”

The President is scheduled to deliver his SONA on July 27.

READ: Simplicity to define Marcos’ 5th Sona as House kicks off preparations

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During the Katungod Conference 2026, delegates warned against “reducing Mindanao to a mere political battleground for the 2028 elections,” urging the national government to address escalating environmental destruction and attacks on IP rights.

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“The two major political dynasties are already eyeing Mindanao as the decisive vote in the 2028 election,” said Bishop Daniel Palicte of Davao City. “Yet issues of human rights like the Talaingod 13, the series of disasters, environmental destruction, hunger, and the Bangsamoro peace agreement are not decisively addressed by the Manila government.”

At the center of the conference’s agenda was the pending Court of Appeals decision on the Talaingod 13, which includes former lawmakers France Castro and Satur Ocampo. The group faces a potential affirmation of a regional trial court decision finding them guilty of child abuse stemming from a 2018 humanitarian mission to rescue Lumad students from intense militarization in Davao del Norte.

READ: Groups to demand reversal of Talaingod 13 conviction on 2nd anniversary

For the delegates, the conviction represents the weaponization of the law against human rights defenders.

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The Child Protection Act was used to threaten those fighting for human rights. Helping and caring are not crimes,” Castro said in Filipino.

‘Corporate clearing, not counter-insurgency’

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Rights defenders pointed out that the prosecution of the Talaingod 13 is inextricably linked to the forced closure of over 200 Lumad schools across Mindanao, which has displaced thousands of Indigenous children.

Atty. Carol Kay Paquera, of the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM), argued that the militarization driving these closures is motivated by resource extraction rather than state security.

” This is not counter-insurgency. This is corporate clearing,” Paquera said in mixed Cebuano and Filipino.

She noted that protecting ancestral domains from corporate greed requires the immediate dismantling of paramilitary groups. “The Lumads are not just passive victims. Their survival is their resistance.”

Echoing this sentiment, Fr. Raymond Ambray, convenor of the Save Our Schools Network, pointed out that upholding the Talaingod conviction effectively legalizes enforced evacuation. “What kind of society prosecutes teachers? What kind of society prosecutes those who build schools?” he asked.

Silencing the marginalized

Angelika Moral, a Lumad youth and Talaingod 13 spokesperson, recounted the harassment they endured from paramilitary forces, which culminated in the arrest of their teachers.

“I hope you’ll hear our plea. We are the proof that our teachers are not bad. We were not kidnapped… The very people helping us were the ones charged,” Moral said in Filipino.

She stressed that for the Lumads (Indigenous Peoples), losing their ancestral land equates to losing their identity.

Accountability and the road ahead

As the country debates political accountability among ruling factions, Atty. Arvin Dexter M. Lopez of the UPLM reminded the public not to forget the lives lost to militarization and the drug war under the Duterte regime, while also holding the current administration liable.

“Accountability must also reach the Marcos administrations — from Marcos Sr. to Marcos Jr. — whose records remain marked by serious human rights violations, impunity, and unresolved injustices. Justice cannot be partisan,” Lopez said.

For his part, Prof. Tirmizy Abdullah warned against reducing the upcoming Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Parliamentary Elections to a mere political exercise.

READ: PNP to bolster intel ops ahead of BARMM polls

He noted that the unfinished rehabilitation of Marawi, coupled with the expansion of large-scale development projects, demonstrates that “peace must be measured by justice, dignity, and the well-being of our people.”

The conference concluded with the reading and adoption of a “People’s Declaration,” firmly asserting the right of Mindanao’s marginalized sectors to self-determination.

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“Much of our ecological wealth and cultural patrimony survived because Indigenous People continue to defend their territories,” the declaration read. “Solidarity is not a crime. Indigenous self-determination is not a crime.”/coa