Click the video thumbnail to view the video of Windel Bolinget, chairperson of the Cordillera People’s Alliance

Since April 2020, Windel Bolinget, the chairperson of the Cordillera People’s Alliance, and his family have been targeted in an online smear campaign allegedly being conducted by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police. The Cordillera People’s Alliance upholds their Indigenous self-determination, and their campaigns aim to protect their land and communities from environmentally devastating development projects, including Canadian mining companies with active mining applications in the Cordillera: Philippine Metals Canada, Solfotara, Canex, and Adanacex.

On July 3, 2020, the Philippine government implemented a new anti-terrorism law which broadened the government's power to designate individuals and groups as terrorists. Law enforcement can arrest terrorism suspects without a warrant, detain them for up to 24 days without charge and place them under surveillance for up to 90 days. It further removes the automatic financial penalty against law enforcement for wrongful detention.

Windel shares the experiences of organizers of the Cordillera People's Alliance, and also his own family's experiences with harassment by Philipine military and police forces, and paints a picture of what militarization looks like in the Cordillera region of the Philippines.