Windel Bolinget belongs to the Kankanaey and Bontok indigenous peoples in Mountain Province. He has been an environment defender and human rights activist for more than half of his life. To date, he served the CPA for 23 years as Education Commission Officer, Secretary General and now Chairperson. He has long been known as an indigenous activist strongly committed to his work.
The trumped-up case and vicious attacks by the AFP and PNP against Bolinget are desperate attempts to destroy Bolinget and his family, and to delegitimize the CPA. These will neither silence nor stop the CPA from defending Cordillera indigenous peoples’ rights and human rights. However, these attacks must stop before worse forms of human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings, are committed against CPA leaders and members.
**Billie Pierre is a Nlaka’Pamux/Saulteaux woman based in BC. She was part of the Native Youth Movement, a founder member of the Redwire magazine and engaged in other Indigenous people’s struggles on Coast Salish Territories. She talks about the necessity to defend the land and the Indigenous people and also about her involvement in some of those fights in Canada, in the Philippines and around the world.
https://www.facebook.com/billie.pierre.79/videos/3631021130285754/