Who Should Be Blamed for Palawan's Forest Loss?
I grew up in Palawan, and I still remember what it felt like before things started changing.
Beautiful trees, fresh air, scenery that wasn't ruined by flooding. Palawan is slowly
disappearing, and what bothers me most isn't just the loss. It's who gets blamed for it.
A 2026 report by Maliwanag, based on a study by the Palawan Council for Sustainable
Development (PCSD), found that southern Palawan lost 57,715 hectares of forest
between 2001 and 2023. The study said 77.4 percent of that loss came from kaingin, or
slash-and-burn farming. At first glance, that makes it sound like ordinary farmers and
Indigenous communities are the main reason Palawan's forests are disappearing. But I
don't think that's fair, and it's not the full story.
Some politicians push for mining and agribusiness, industries that clear far more land
than any single farmer ever could. Yet it's usually the simple citizens, the Indigenous
people who practice kaingin, who get blamed first. That doesn't sit right with me. Why
does the blame always fall on the people with the least power to fight back, while the
industries backed by money and political connections barely get questioned?
I'm not the only one who thinks this way. The Environmental Legal Assistance Center
(ELAC) challenged how the PCSD framed its findings, warning that it makes it look like
upland farmers and Indigenous Peoples are the main cause of deforestation, while big
mining operations, land conversion, and weak government oversight get left out of the
conversation. The Save Palawan Movement made a similar point. Traditional swidden
farming, something Indigenous communities have practiced for generations as part of
how they live with the land, shouldn't be treated the same as destructive land-clearing
(Maliwanag, 2026).
That's the real question for me. Are the farmers and everyday citizens really the ones at
fault, or is it the country's leaders who are failing, choosing to shift the blame onto people
with less power instead of dealing with the bigger, riskier causes of environmental
damage? Farmers turn to upland farming because they often don't have other ways to
make a living. Blaming them doesn't fix anything. It just punishes people for surviving
with what little they have. What the government should really be asking is why these
communities are pushed into practices that hurt the environment, and what can be done
so they don't have to choose between their livelihood and the forest.
Meanwhile, the things that damage land on a massive scale, mining, oil palm and rubber
plantations, land grabbing, keep growing. Maliwanag's (2026) report also mentioned
these, along with the cutting down of hundreds of thousands of trees. These aren't the
actions of people with no other choice. They're decisions made by companies and
officials who already have money and power, and that power should come with real
accountability.
This is what makes the issue personal to me, more than just numbers on a report. The
Palawan I grew up with- the trees, the clean air, the landscapes without flooding- is
disappearing, while the story being told points at the wrong people. I understand that
Palawan and the Philippines need development. But development driven by greed,
where a few people profit while ordinary communities quietly pay the environmental cost,
isn't real progress. It's a trade-off Palawan shouldn't have to make.
If we really want to protect Palawan, the responsibility has to go where it belongs. Not
only on farmers doing what they can to survive, but on the politicians and industries who
have the power to stop this destruction and choose not to. Accountability should apply
to everyone, especially the people with the most influence over what happens to the
land.
Reference
Maliwanag, D. A. (2026, July 4). Palawan council blames kaingin for forest loss; groups
dispute framing. INQUIRER.net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/2257442/palawan-councilblames-kaingin-for-forest-loss-group-disputes-framing