General Assembly of Environmental Advocates

03/10/2026

UP ESMS joins the GAEA Convention 2026!

The UP Environmental Science and Meteorology Society (UP ESMS) joined fellow environmental organizations and councils at the first General Assembly of Environmental Advocates (GAEA) Convention in two years, held on September 28, 2026.

With 13 organizations and councils currently part of the GAEA network, member organizations gathered to discuss plans, campaigns, and collective efforts for the first semester of A.Y. 2026–2027.

As part of the University's network of environmental advocates, UP ESMS stands with GAEA in advancing environmental causes, calling for a just transition to renewable energy, opposing Pax Silica, and defending environmental defenders.

Organizations and councils may still join the GAEA network and be part of collective environmental action.

🔗 https://bit.ly/GAEA2627SignUp

Iskolar ng Bayan, Sagipin ang Kalikasan! 🌿

24/09/2026

CALLING ALL ENVI DEFENDERS!

The UPD USC is inviting all environmental advocates to the first General Assembly of Environmental Advocates Convention for the academic year.

Now more than ever, we must converge to challenge the foundations of environmental exploitation and resist plunder. From the ridges to the reefs, let us shift the grounds toward climate justice!
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‎🗓️ September 28, 2026
‎⏰ 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
‎📍 SUB 411
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Not yet part of GAEA?‎ Sign up now!
🔗 https://bit.ly/GAEA2627SignUp
🔗 https://bit.ly/GAEA2627SignUp
🔗 https://bit.ly/GAEA2627SignUp

Iskolar ng Bayan, Sagipin ang Kalikasan!

09/09/2026

BREAKING: MARCOS JR. WELCOMES FOREIGN PLUNDER

The first Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC) Investment Forum is being held in Manila from September 10 to 11, led by the Philippines, the United States, and Japan. The LEC is a multilateral initiative connecting Subic, Clark, Manila, and Batangas through projects focused on critical industries and infrastructure.

Within the LEC, the Pax Silica Initiative takes form through the Economic Security Zone, a planned industrial hub for AI technology, semiconductor manufacturing, and critical minerals processing. Its large demand for land, water, energy, and mineral resources threatens ecosystems, agricultural lands, and communities while the reported push for U.S. jurisdiction, diplomatic immunity, and extraterritorial control raises serious concerns over Philippine sovereignty.

As our communities are flooded, displaced, and forced to bear the worsening impacts of the climate crisis, the Marcos Jr. administration continues to open our land and resources to foreign interests through policies on 99-year land leases, critical minerals, and nuclear energy ventures. It is clear that the Marcos Jr. administration continues to serve its imperial master at the expense of our land, resources, and sovereignty.

We must continue to reject this direction and assert that the Philippines must not remain a supplier of resources for global industries. We need national industrialization that puts our land, water, and energy in the service of the Filipino people.

REJECT PAX SILICA! RESIST IMPERIAL PLUNDER!

29/08/2026

DEFEND THE BARRICADE!
HANDS OFF NUEVA VIZCAYA!

Kahapon, Agosto 28, inaresto ng mga elemento ng pasistang Philippine National Police (PNP) ang 13 indibidwal sa people’s anti-mining barricade sa Brgy. Pacquet, Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya. Ang pag-aresto ng mga tutang PNP ay alinsunod sa gampanin nilang tulungang ipasok ang mga krudo ng North Luzon Mineral Resources Corporation (NLMRC) na nirerepresenta ni Jaime Atayde.

Matatandaang hindi ito ang unang pagtatangka ng kapulisan at ng NLMRC na takutin ang mga residente sa kabila ng mariing pagtutol ng mga residente sa pagmimina. Noong Agosto 19, inaresto din ng kapulisan ang tatlong residente sa barikada kontra pagmimina sa pagtatangka rin nilang magpasok ng krudo na di umano ay gagamitin para sa isang government project.

Dagdag pa rito, mula nang sumibol ang paglaban ng mga residente noong Mayo ay umabot na sa 30 na Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) cases ang sinampa laban sa mga environmental defenders at kabilang na rito ang pro bono lawyers na sina Atty. Fidel Santos at Atty. Edgardo Balgos na sinampahan ng cyberlibel complaints ng NLMRC. Hindi rin pinalampas ng ganid na kumpanya ang anti-mining leader ng Dupax del Norte Environmental Defenders (DDNED) si Brother Florentino Daynos nang siya’y arestuhin noong August 03 sa kasong grave threat and coercion.

Hindi na bago ang ganitong taktika ng estado. Sa tuwing lumalakas ang sambayanan dahil sa kolektibong aksyon, lumalakas din ang pasismo ng estado sa pamamagitan ng paggamit ng dahas at pagbali ng batas.

Malinaw ang tindig ng UPD USC at mga residente ng Kasibu: hindi tayo tutol sa pagmimina, subalit kung buhay at hanapbuhay ay maapektuhan, mariin nating tututulan ang anumang pagtatangka sa pagmimina.

Kung kaya’t nakikiisa ang UPD USC sa kagyat na pagpapalaya sa 12 naaresto at ang pagtigil sa anumang pagtatangka ng NLMRC na ipagpatuloy pa ang pagmimina sa Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya!

Para sa PNP, AFP, DENR, at Marcos Jr., hangga’t interes ng iilan ang inyong pinaiiral, asahan ninyo ang pagdagsa ng mga Pilipinong tutol sa mapanirang pagmimina mula kanayunan hanggang kalunsuran!

DAGA, BIAG, KINABAKNANG, SALAKNIBAN!

24/08/2026

COME BACK IS NOW! CALLING ALL ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES! 🌱

GAEA RETURNS. The Philippines remains an epicenter of environmental plunder, facing layer upon layer of threats from the corporate greed of extractive industries to the imperialist plunder of the United States.

Now more than ever, we must converge to challenge the foundations of environmental exploitation and resist plunder. From the ridges to the reefs, let us shift the grounds toward climate justice!

🔗 Sign up now: https://bit.ly/GAEA2627SignUp

Iskolar ng Bayan, Sagipin ang Kalikasan!

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The General Assembly of Environmental Advocates (GAEA) is the university-wide coalition of individuals, formations, and councils committed to advancing environmental consciousness, building collective action, and amplifying the voices of communities and ecosystems amid the worsening climate crisis.

22/02/2026

EXPOSE THE TRUTH, DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY

On February 20, a landfill in Harangan, Rodriguez, Rizal collapsed, affecting over 100 residents. While authorities cite 7 missing individuals, reports from the local community place the number at more than 50.

According to survivors and residents in the area, rescue efforts from the Local Government Unit (LGU) have been insufficient and yet to fully materialize. Meanwhile, the landfill operator, International Solid Waste Integrated Management Specialist Inc.(ISWIMS), has restricted media access and limited public visibility about the disaster.

This tragedy follows the recent collapse of another landfill in Binaliw, Cebu City, on January 8, 2026, where at least 36 people were killed due to identical cases of environmental negligence.

From an engineering perspective, landfill collapses are rarely unpreventable. They are caused by unregulated waste height, unstable slope design, and weak oversight. Amongst other factors, dumping untreated waste creates loose masses that trap water and build up methane gas. Without proper supervision and maintenance, large-scale failure becomes incredibly predictable.

Yet, instead of receiving meaningful governmental support and safeguards, Harangan residents have been subjected to demolition threats and harassment tied to land claims by New San Jose Builders Inc. (NSJBI). The parallels between Harangan and Binaliw point to a systemic design in the way that the Philippines prioritizes private interests in managing its waste.

The UP Diliman University Student Council, alongside other student councils across the UP System, recently visited the community through a basic mass integration during the Kasama sa UP Convention. Here, student leaders witnessed firsthand the conditions of vulnerability ignored by those in power. We call on the local government of Rodriguez to immediately scale up search operations, and release transparent, verified, and regular public updates. There is nothing accidental about burying a poor community under waste, while private corporations are shielded from scrutiny.

26/01/2026

DEFEND ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS! 🍀

On January 23, hundreds of uniformed officers from the Philippine National Police (PNP) violently dismantled a community barricade in Brgy. Bitnong, Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya, arresting seven community leaders in the process.

This evening, the trumped-up charges against the Dupax del Norte 7 were junked, affirming that their struggle to protect their land, livelihood, and environment was justified from the very beginning. While the University Student Council welcomes their release, we strongly condemn the intimidation, harassment, and violence inflicted upon the seven environmental defenders and the wider Dupax del Norte community.

The barricade, erected in September 2025, was a response to the impending large-scale mining operations of the British-owned Woggle Mining Corporation. Enabled by the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, the company has repeatedly attempted to enter Dupax del Norte without proper consultation with affected communities. By disregarding Indigenous peoples’ right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), Woggle Corporation, and the Mining Act itself, continueu to endanger local ecosystems and communities in Nueva Vizcaya.

Then, the barricade should be regarded as a legitimate act of resistance against foreign plunder. The PNP’s directive to dismantle it exposes state’s priorities: profit over people.

The University Student Council stands in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples and communities of Dupax del Norte in demanding an immediate halt to mining operations, the revocation of Woggle Corporation’s permits, and full accountability from the DENR. We reject the criminalization of community resistance against ecological destruction and plunder.

Justice for the Dupax del Norte 7 must go beyond their release, it must include safeguards against further harassment, the protection of environmental defenders, and the preservation of the land for future generations.

02/09/2024

02/09/2024