AIPP Solidarity Message To Cordillera Day 2025

Solidarity Message
Gam A. Shimray
Secretary General, Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP)
Cordillera Summit on Just Energy Transition and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
April 24–26, 2025 | Baguio City, Philippines

The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) stands in firm solidarity with the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Innabuyog, the Cordilleran Youth Centre, and all Indigenous Peoples and communities across the Cordillera region as they gather for the Cordillera Summit on Just Energy Transition and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights.

This summit takes place at a critical moment in our collective struggle. As the climate crisis deepens and the push for renewable energy intensifies, Indigenous Peoples in the Cordillera and throughout Asia are facing the twin burdens of environmental destruction and continued violations of their rights. We echo the call that a just energy transition must not come at the expense of indigenous lands, cultures, and sovereignty.

We commend the leadership of the Cordillera indigenous communities in defending ancestral domains from aggressive large-scale mining, mega-dam projects, and energy investments that ignore Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). We also raise our voices with yours against the manipulated FPIC processes, red-tagging, militarisation, and state repression that indigenous leaders and defenders continue to endure.

This summit is not only a gathering, it is an affirmation of indigenous sovereignty, a platform to share knowledge, and a declaration of unity against exploitative development that ignores the wisdom and rights of the original stewards of the land.

In this light, we also mark a significant step toward justice with the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC), who now faces charges of crimes against humanity. Duterte’s regime was responsible for some of the gravest violations against Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines—extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, illegal arrests, and forced displacements, particularly targeting those who opposed destructive projects.

In the Cordillera, Mindanao, and beyond, indigenous leaders were vilified and attacked simply for defending their communities. These were not isolated incidents—they were systemic, and they were political. The ‘whole-of-nation approach’, which criminalised indigenous self-determination, must never be allowed to continue under any administration.

We honour the courage of Cordillera Indigenous Peoples and all those across the Philippines who have refused to be silenced. But we also stress that true justice requires full accountability—not only of Duterte, but also of the state actors, corporations, and institutions that enabled these abuses. We call on the Marcos Jr. administration to break from this violent legacy and to respect the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples as guaranteed under international law and the Philippine Constitution.

To the organisers and participants of the Cordillera Summit:

Your stand for land, life, and justice inspires us all.
Your stories, your resistance, and your vision for a just and sustainable future give strength to indigenous struggles across Asia and the world.

AIPP is with you in spirit, in action, and in the shared hope for justice, self-determination, and a truly just energy transition.

Click here to download the full Solidarity Message for Cordillera Day