The Lumad, Invisible People of the Philippines

Often sidelined by colonial and neocolonial powers, indigenous communities worldwide face significant environmental injustices. On a daily basis, they experience the wanton contamination of their native lands, exclusion from decision-making regarding environmental issues, and the destruction of their local environments. These environmental issues become existential for indigenous communities, leading them to create grassroots community-centered movements to fight for their rights.

The Lumad people in the Mindanao region is one example of how environmental injustices affect indigenous groups and force them to respond. This group has suffered significantly due to environmental issues caused by illegal agribusiness and illegal mining operations. In response, many have joined organizations aimed at protecting their ancestral lands from destruction. Their continued resistance even in the face of such attacks provides some hope that indigenous movements worldwide will not be stifled.

The Lumad people have a long and rich history on the Philippine Islands (Ulindang 2015). 'Lumad' is a term directly translating to "indigenous" in the Bisayan language, and it has been used to describe some 15 different ethnically indigenous groups on Mindanao Island (Ulindang 2015). Those under the Lumad category account for 32.3% of the indigenous population of the Philippines (Ulindang 2015).

The U.S. government created land laws that zoned unused "public" lands to be used for agricultural purposes (Ty 2010). These lands were often the ancestral lands of indigenous communities across the Philippines (Ty 2010). Each business could apply for "up to 1,024 hectares of land," setting the stage for future agribusiness and plantation development (Ty 2010).

Thanks to the precedent for land exploitation set under Spanish and U.S. colonization, the Lumad people continue to experience environmental injustices on a day to day basis. Agribusiness and mining operations (legal or illegal) greatly threaten local environments with deforestation, contamination, and flooding. The impacts of these operations are multiscalar, affecting people on the cellular, local, and global level.

The Philippines is one of the world's largest producers of bananas, exporting them to over 18 countries through a complex web of global supply chains (Ortiz & Torres 2020). Thanks to its near-perfect conditions for banana growing, Mindanao Island accounts for the largest share of banana cultivation in the Philippines (Ortiz & Torres 2020).

Consequently, the Philippine Government has heavily prioritized the construction and expansion of banana plantations, at the detriment of indigenous locals. This can be especially seen in the case of Mt. Apo national park where plantations and illegal logging have caused over 1400 hectares, or about 5.5 square miles, of forest loss annually ("Mount Apo Natural Park" 2015). As seen in the map below, that area exceeds that covered by the UC Irvine campus.

Deforestation- The Local and Global Consequences

Unfortunately, deforestation is not the only consequence of the expansion of plantations in Mindanao. Banana plantations are reliant on large amounts of pesticides and fertilizer that contaminate local ecosystems through runoff and soil leeching (Ortiz & Torres 2020). These contaminants hurt soil fertility and kill fish in contaminated water systems, while threatening human lives (Ortiz & Torres 2020). Those working on banana plantations are exposed to toxic chemicals that lead to "cancer as well as neurological, reproductive, and developmental disorders" (Hutter et al. 2021). Often, this is the result of safety measures being violated due to the ease at which poor indigenous workers can be exploited (Hutter et al. 2021).

Yet another threat to the Lumad people comes from mining, both legal and illegal. Illegal mining is commonplace in the Mt. Apo Natural Park despite protections (Sarmiento 2021). Illegal gold mines often use mercury to separate gold from other contaminants, but this process often results in the mercury leeching off into plants, soil, and people (Kurniawan et al. 2023). Indeed, artisanal mines account for 57.5% of mercury contamination in the Philippines (Kurniawan et al. 2023). This mercury affects people on the cellular level, causing organ damage, while also affecting people on the local level since mercury contaminated watersheds can spread this danger far and wide (Kurniawan et al. 2023).

Legal mining also negatively impacts the Lumad. The Tampakan Copper-Gold Mine, currently in the process of being opened, threatens to disrupt the way of life of many Lumad in Southern Mindanao (Hamm et al. 2013). The mine sits near several important watersheds with many indigenous people fearing poisoning of the water sources they use (Hamm et al. 2013). Additionally, 5,000 people would have to be moved to construct the mine, raising concerns over indigenous consent (Hamm et al. 2013).

Wastelanding refers to a way that native lands are perceived, either through assuming that non-white lands have no value to them, or they hold value only through what can be mined from the land. (Voyles 2015). This is evident in both how plantations and mines are constructed on native Lumad lands and how U.S. colonial laws saw all non-cultivated lands as useless.

There are multiple mining projects like the Tampakan mining project near Lumad territories. The results of mining corporations entering the Mindanao lands cause many hazards to the lifestyle of the indigenous Lumad people by displacing them and polluting the water and soil nearby (Hamm et al. 2013).

Not only are these lands non-white, they are also valuable to big corporations and nations due to the minerals underground. This is exactly where wastelanding thrives and at the same time causes the environmental injustices that indigenous people of Lumad have to face.

The exploitation of indigenous and marginalized regions of the world by developed nations or corporations is possible only through the denial of consent. (Whyte 2021). When colonial powers and corporations deal with indigenous communities, their consent is often sidelined or ignored (Whyte 2021).

The native people of the Mindanao region did not consent to the logging and mining in their ancestral lands, nor did they necessarily consent to the implementation of banana plantations and the subsequent harm they caused. The Lumad tribes never fully consented to the introduction of illegal and legal mining companies, and they are now displaced from their homes (Hamm et al. 2013). With banana plantations growing rapidly, pesticides and chemicals are being spread over the region to kill fungi which ultimately affects the health of the indigenous Lumad people (Hutter et al. 2021).

When it comes to resettlement of people near the Tampakan Copper-Gold Mine, the Philippine government requires consent from indigenous communities to construct it (Hamm et al. 2013). Unfortunately, consent is gained from community leaders who do not always represent the interests of the whole community (Hamm et al. 2013). There is also a massive power imbalance between the two sides that can be exploited (e.g. the mining corporation promising employment to people that are economically disadvantaged) (Hamm et al. 2013).

To have an environmental privilege means that some groups are able to access space and resources without having to deal with any ecological harm that other groups of people tend to deal with everyday. (Park and Pellow 2011). Many people in privileged countries can buy bananas and jewelry without needing to deal with the consequences of contaminated water, soil, or displacement. They do not usually lose their native lands to agribusiness and mines, nor do they need to work in dangerous agriculture jobs, where they are exploited and underequipped (Hutter et al. 2021). Park and Pellow argue that one cannot have environmental privilege without environmental racism (Park and Pellow 2011). The environmental racism putting the Lumad in these horrible conditions allows for the existence of environmental privilege in the Global North. Thanks to centuries of colonialism, privileged nations are easily able to exploit the resources, population, and environments of underprivileged nations like the Philippines.

Many local organizations have emerged to combat the ongoing environmental injustices taking place within the Mindanao region. One such organization is Sabokahan (Unity of Lumad Women), led by Bai Bibyaon Ligkayan Bigkay until her peaceful death in November of 2023 (Sabokahan Unity of Lumad Women (@sabokahan) • Instagram Photos and Videos, 2023). Sabokahan approaches the environmental injustices in Pantaron with an intersectional lens, tackling issues of deforestation and mining by organizing and empowering Lumad women at the grassroots level.

Sabokahan's goals have extended beyond the local region of Mindanao and reached a global audience. The Liyang Network was founded as a "local to global advocacy network"(Liyang Network, n.d.) to promote the voices of indigenous Lumad communities on a global scale and help them to be heard.

The Liyang Network has made great strides in their mission to spread awareness surrounding Lumad environmental injustice. The Sierra Club, founded in 1892 by John Muir, (“Sierra Club,” 2024) serves as an example for how word of the Lumad injustice has reached Western audiences. Linked below is an article from the Sierra Club, which not only gives an overview of the Mindanao region and Lumad struggles, but also explains how the Liyang Network successfully brought Lumad issues to their attention.

Indigenous societies are often denoted as "invisible peoples". This invisibility may be a result of ignorance, naivety, or fierce oppression–all of which tie into the larger institution of settler colonialism and imperialism. Ultimately, the aim of this project was to highlight an "invisible society" in hopes of bringing light to the violence they repeatedly face beyond the local scale and calling attention to the presence of Indigenous peoples.

Land Acknowledgement: The creators of this storymap acknowledge that our campus, the University of California Irvine, is a historic and spiritual site of the Acjachemen and Tongva peoples who have traditionally stewarded this land.