[Kasalikasan] First for all the wrong reasons

Environment activists hold a protest along Quirino Avenue in Manila to oppose the San Miguel Corporation's Southern Access Link Expressway (SALEX) on World Environment Day, June 5, 2026. Heritage conservationists warned that the infrastructure project threatens to destroy or damage at least 50 historical and cultural landmarks across Manila.

Rappler

Global Witness released its annual report on the state of the world’s environmental defenders, and the Philippines again recorded the most killings in Asia for the 13th straight year, with 12 cases

Members of Rappler’s Liveable Cities cluster — whose stories I feature in this newsletter — have been busy these past two months preparing for the September 14 Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections, which explains this newsletter’s hiatus.

Read (or watch) the stellar work of my colleagues before, during, and after the elections:

• Not only were the regional elections historic; they were also unique. Here are five things that set them apart, according to Rappler researcher Shay Du.
• Who ran in the elections? The region’s powerful political dynasties, elites, and former combatants, Shay and Rappler reporter John Sitchon reported.
• Early violence marred the elections, but the voter turnout was still at 84.34%. Here are the election results.
• Shay broke down the composition of the BARMM’s first democratically elected parliament, while Rappler’s Mindanao Desk editor Herbie Gomez reminded us that the real fight for power has already begun as rival political camps try to assemble the votes needed to install the region’s next chief minister.

In the same week as the elections, Global Witness released its annual report on the state of the world’s environmental defenders, and the Philippines again recorded the most killings in Asia for the 13th straight year, with 12 cases. It also tied third in the world with Honduras, trailing behind Colombia and Brazil.

It should still alarm us that the country is still the deadliest in Asia — as alarmed or probably more than the first time the Global Witness started counting in 2012. What is the country doing to arrest this deadly streak? And what does this mean in the context of the “aggressive push to expand the country’s mining and critical minerals industry,” as the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment pointed out? There is something wrong when we as a nation have accepted yet another year that the Philippines is first in something — but for all the wrong reasons.

September also saw the Philippines finally updating its long-overdue Nationally Determined Contribution, where it raised its unconditional target (emissions reduction using its own resources) to 7% from the 2.71% it committed in 2021.

Aksyon Klima Pilipinas national coordinator John Leo Algo asks: “Is the proposed 2027 national budget actually prioritizing these unconditional climate solutions? If the Marcos Jr. administration truly prioritizes the climate agenda — which the President claimed at the start of his term — then this must be reflected in every national budget until 2035.”

I end today’s newsletter with Rappler reporter Iya Gozum’s special report on the remaining residents of Upper Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila. With the threat of relocation — made urgent by a proposed waste-to-energy facility — hanging over their heads, Iya put the spotlight on the dreamers who still reside there.

Here are other stories from our cluster that you shouldn’t miss:

– Rappler.com

Kasalikasan is a bimonthly newsletter featuring environmental and science issues, delivered straight to your inbox every other Tuesday. Visit rappler.com/newsletters to subscribe.