“Land is life. Indigenous women will cease to exist if their lands and territories are destroyed. We were able to protect and nurture our lands, territories and resources for many generations through self-determination, deciding on what is good for many without sacrificing the land, culture and future of our children.”
Sarah belongs to the Kankanaey-Igorot indigenous people in the Cordillera region, northern Philippines. She started her journey in the indigenous people’s movement in 1998 as a youth activist who took part in fight for students’ rights and welfare, and human rights and economic issues that affect indigenous communities in Cordillera.
As a student activist, Sarah visited the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company and Benguet Corporation mining areas in Benguet province and spoke with local communities. She then realized the horrible impacts of large-scale mining to the environment, health, economic livelihood, and culture of indigenous communities and saw how the human rights of indigenous peoples are violated. In 2005, Sarah also witnessed members of the Philippine Army shot at a group of people protesting the unjust labor practices of the workers of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company.
“I felt that I had to do something to contribute to the fight of indigenous communities against development aggression, repressive government policies and human rights violations. Thus, I decided to join organizations while studying until I decided to work full time at Cordillera People’s Alliance,” Sarah shares.
Sarah currently sits as the Secretary General of Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), an alliance of 307 of indigenous peoples and sectoral organizations. She has been part of CPA for more than 16 years, fighting against corporate mining, megadams, and other destructive projects in the Cordillera.
For Sarah, standing firm and committed to defend indigenous peoples’ rights no matter how difficult and dangerous the situation may be is a tough commitment, given the overwhelming needs of indigenous communities. But what makes it more challenging, Sarah explains, are the worsening state-perpetrated attacks through widespread red-tagging and political vilification directed towards indigenous people’s organizations like the CPA.
“Red-tagging is dangerous because it incites violence. In the experience of CPA, red-tagging has led to severe human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings and trumped-up cases. To continue to speak out for indigenous peoples amidst intensified attacks by the State is in itself challenging,” Sarah says.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, numerous fake and fraudulent Facebook accounts, individual accounts and pages of Philippine Army and Philippine National Police spread disinformation and malicious posts accusing Sarah and other CPA members of being communists, terrorists, and supporters of the New People’s Army. Sarah was even maligned on social media as having a romantic relationship with her colleague CPA chairperson, Windel Bolinget.
Currently, Sarah faces a trumped-up case of cyber libel filed by the Cordillera police chief for speaking out against the police’s desecration of a Cordillera heroes’ monument.
Sarah believes that the escalating threats against indigenous peoples and IP human rights defenders make it imperative for people to fight. “Injustice must end, and people need human rights defenders, environment activists, and indigenous peoples to lead this fight,” she shares.
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