Protecting One Another

For many years, Indigenous people have been guiding and protecting forests in the Philippines.

They protect rivers, trees, and everything in that forest; they're providing not only for their own community, but also for the next generation, so they can also use it properly and protect it. Yet, after all those sacrifices they made, the place they call home was slowly being wrecked and destroyed by humans. Just like the Aeta's place in Zambales, which has become a dumpster where all the trash is being left to rot, another is being thrown away because of poor management decisions.

The forest is a place where every living thing thrives with clean air and a peaceful life. But the expectation is that they should be safe and protected, and that the land from the Aeta holds spiritual and cultural values that they have kept. Now reality begins: the land is now full of trash. A lot of people there were suffering from unhealthy pollution, which can be bad for their health, and also the loss of the environment that has been part of their daily lives.

The issue left a serious problem for the Aetas, and the question is who should be held responsible for failing to protect the environment? Local government has the authority to manage waste properly. Imagine using ancestral forests as a place for dumps; this only shows that they lost their respect for those people who live there, the nature, and they didn't even think about the rights of those indigenous people. The department should not destroy the homes of those who protected the land; if they are a fair department, they should also be fair.

Forests should not be the place where they hide those failures; this should remain a culture. A place where we should respect, the government and the community should help each other to fix the damaged lands, and make sure that the people who live there will not suffer again because of some decisions that are not well-planned. We should always remember that protecting ancestral lands means protecting and taking care of those who take care of them.