As the nation counts down to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fifth State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on 27 July, the political noise on the national stage feels distant from the steep ridges of the Cordillera Region.

Upland laborers, indigenous community members, and urban transport workers are calling on the national government to prioritize daily economic survival and human rights over corporate and bureaucratic interests.

Rima Mangili, representing the upland agricultural and mining sectors in Itogon, Benguet, outlined the urgent legislative and administrative demands of local farmers and small-scale miners.

Mangili called for an immediate halt to large-scale, corporate-driven infrastructure and resource extraction projects within ancestral domains, citing risks to the environment, water supply, and community safety.

Mangili also stressed the need for institutionalized subsidies, robust market systems, and floor prices for highland crops to protect farmers from cheap imports and middleman exploitation.

Furthermore, she urged the government to simplify the expensive and tedious legal requirements for declaring a Minahang Bayan, arguing the current system favors large corporations and criminalizes traditional livelihoods.

Administrative failures also threaten ancestral lands, according to Melchor, a government employee and indigenous community member from Mountain Province. Melchor demanded an end to land grabbing and urged the state to prioritize Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles.

He also stressed the importance of strictly honoring the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, giving communities a genuine veto over development projects in their territories.

To achieve this, Melchor said the government must clean up agencies like the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to eliminate workflows that burden native populations.

The economic strain extends into the region’s urban centers. Public utility vehicle driver Lewie Aquino, navigating the steep streets of Baguio City, said urban workers are looking to the upcoming presidential address as a critical indicator of their daily take-home pay amid rising costs for fuel, vehicle maintenance, and basic groceries.

Aquino said he expects concrete plans to tame inflation and lower the cost of living rather than abstract economic growth statistics. He also anticipates national updates on traffic management and road maintenance to alleviate Baguio’s notorious congestion.

Regarding the government’s public utility vehicle modernization program, Aquino urged officials to manage transport routes fairly, calling for viable subsidies rather than aggressive mandates that jeopardize driver livelihoods.

The different perspectives from these three distinct sectors converge on a singular challenge to the national government: to measure development by the safety, rights, and economic security of ordinary citizens.