16/07/2026
OUR MOUNTAINS ARE NOT SACRIFICE ZONES
The Sandiwa Network stands in solidarity with Indigenous communities defending their ancestral domains, lands, waters, and lifeways.
Read our full statement below.
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OUR MOUNTAINS ARE NOT SACRIFICE ZONES
A Statement of Solidarity with Indigenous Communities Opposing Pax Silica
The Sandiwa Network stands in solidarity with Indigenous communities defending their ancestral domains, lands, waters, and lifeways against projects that threaten their rights and self-determination.
Pax Silica is being promoted as a pathway to technological progress and economic growth. Yet behind the promise of innovation lies a growing demand for critical minerals, energy, water, and land—resources often found in Indigenous territories. We reject the notion that technological advancement justifies environmental destruction, displacement, and the dispossession of Indigenous Peoples.
The proposed Pax Silica Economic Security Zone under the Luzon Economic Corridor raises serious concerns about land grabbing, extractive industries, environmental degradation, and the further militarization of rural and Indigenous communities. No project can be called development if it advances at the expense of ancestral domains, ecological integrity, and the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) of Indigenous Peoples.
Around the world, the race for critical minerals has already left Indigenous and rural communities facing intensified mining, pollution, water depletion, and displacement. We refuse to allow the same pattern to be repeated in the Philippines.
Development must serve the Filipino people—not foreign strategic interests, geopolitical competition, or the demands of global supply chains. Indigenous territories are not strategic assets to be traded for profit, security, or geopolitical advantage. They are living homelands, sources of identity and culture, and foundations of collective survival.
We join Indigenous Peoples, people’s organizations, environmental defenders, and concerned citizens in calling for transparency and accountability regarding Pax Silica and related initiatives; the protection of ancestral domains and critical ecosystems; respect for Indigenous self-determination and FPIC; and the defense of Indigenous leaders and communities from militarization, harassment, and repression.
Our mountains are not sacrifice zones. Our ancestral domains are not for sale.
Stand with Indigenous communities. Defend ancestral lands. Oppose Pax Silica.
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Issued by the Sandiwa Network
In solidarity with Indigenous communities defending their ancestral domains
July 2026