Beyond Bouncing Back: Luzon Conference Dares to Think Differently for Resilience

PAMPANGA, Philippines – The Philippines ranks first in the World Risk Index 2025 as the country most at risk of disasters worldwide, facing increasingly severe impacts from climate change. Children and youth, who form the majority of the Philippine population, are disproportionately affected alongside families in poverty, due to limited resources for adaptation.

On October 4-5, 2025, fifty young leaders from across Luzon Island gathered at the Sunday Hevea Hotel and Resort in Angeles City, Pampanga, for the first-ever Luzon Regional Local Conference of Youth. The event brought together community leaders, disaster risk managers, campus journalists, agricultural advocates, nutritionists, and representatives from marginalized sectors.

Organized by Positive Youth Development Network, UNICEF Philippines, the National Youth Commission, the Playhouse Project, Angat GenC, and other local organizations, the conference aimed to strengthen calls for institutionalized youth participation in climate governance.

Yearning for Change: Children, Marginalized, and the Resilience Paradox

In a learning info session, youth leaders laid bare realities that upend the simplistic notion of Filipino resilience as endless endurance. “We’re praised for bouncing back. But what if we shouldn’t fall so hard in the first place? Children and youth are the first to lose school days, homes, and opportunities—yet our voices are missing in solutions,” said Sugar Arana, the Communication Officer of PYDN, challenging the dangerous comfort sometimes taken from the “resilient Filipino” narrative

Through resilience, Arana emphasized, is not just survival—it is agency, accountability, and transformation.

 “We demand better policies, stronger institutions, and justice… Resilience is when young people voice out and hold systems accountable,” Arana declared. The local level emerged as the critical frontier, where resources reside and grassroots innovation flourishes, but where disasters and broken systems hit hardest. 

Demands of Indigenous Peoples: Culture, Rights, and Land

Maria Isabel Mamindang, President of the Balanan Mangyan Youth Organization and youth focal for Occidental Mindoro, described the twin threats of climate change and land grabbing that displace indigenous communities and erode ancestral cultures.

Mamindang and other IP youth now press the government for consistent consultation, robust protection of indigenous rights, and educational support rooted in the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA). Their voice has become the bridge for youth inclusion and advocacy against marginalization throughout local and provincial arenas.

“Sa palagay ko, makakatulong ang gobyerno para sa pagpapalago lalo ng ating mga katutubo, especially ng mga mangyan sa pamamagitan ng pag-alam nila kung ano ba yung karapatan na meron sa ating mga katutubo dahil bagamat sila’y gumawa nito [IPRA] pero dapat mahalaga na alam nila iyun at of course dapat alam nila kung ano ang mayroon sa community o sa IP community, at higit sa lahat dapat mag karoon lagi ng consulation kung ano ba talaga yung kailangan at kung ano yung nararapat na para sa pamayanan” Manindang said. 

The Philippine Climate Landscape: Health, Agriculture, and Nutrition

Panelists from rural Luzon shared vivid accounts of disaster vulnerability across health and agriculture. Star Raiza J. Macalangcom, a registered nutritionist and community volunteer, recounted, 

“Mabuti at nagturuan ako ng mga professors ko na community nutrition yung pag-aralan. Baby pa talaga ako sa climate action. Pero might I remind everyone that you have to know, you… have to assume that everyone you see here has valuable input to give, because you cannot claim justice without listening to the people who will define it.”

John Michael T. Andrada, founder of Raniag Ken Boses Iti Agtutubo Inc., crystallized the farmer’s plight, 

“Kaya para sa akin, the climate justice is for yung kaligtasan po ng isang magsasaka, ng isang kapatang magsasaka… super dami po ng mga kabataan na hindi na po nag-i-engage sa farming. Why? Dahil po sa climate justice. Kasi parati po tayong nalulugi, yun po yung tinitignan nila. Ayaw ko nang magtanim, kasi lugi naman. Nagkakaroon ng age gap na 57 to 59 years old. Baka after 10 to 15 years, bagsak na po yung ekonomiya natin.”

Panelists urged the government to implement robust land reform, accessible farm-to-market roads, fair agricultural pricing, and holistic nutrition support—especially for PWD children and others often overlooked in policy files.

The Statement: Collective Demands for Systemic Change

The Luzon LCOY yielded a draft youth statement that mapped urgent policy, financial, and institutional reforms. The youth’s core demands included:

• Mandatory youth and marginalized sector representation in climate governance and development of Local Climate Adaptation Plans (ELCAP).
• Localization and simplification of climate/DRRM funding for youth and grassroots, with direct channels bypassing bureaucratic hurdles.
• Transparent, disaggregated climate finance reporting and participatory budgeting, extending inclusion for disabled, indigenous, and disadvantaged youth.
• Institutionalizing climate change education across all levels, including indigenous knowledge, with context-specific curricula and active participation of out-of-school and vulnerable youth.
• System change toward green governance, rights for peaceful assembly, mental health support for activists/defenders, and best-practice sharing across regions.

“We keep talking about climate justice, let’s remember without achieving social justice, climate justice is simply unattainable. We need to prioritize social justice before we can translate it into climate justice.” Freda Dimaliwat stressed. 

Youth-Led Adaptation: Grassroots Power and Local Stories

Local organizations showcased successful adaptation tools—from visual disaster risk communication for children to environmental forums and local journalism combating misinformation and driving accountability. The fight against superficial ‘resilience’ is manifest in real advocacy—from educating about Halal nutrition in relief, to actual legal petitions for environmental defenders facing harassment and abduction.

“Hindi naman natatali sa mga conference-conference or pagbuo ng mga statement. We put it into action,” panelist Normel Bermundo captured the activism’s urgency. 

Owning the Future: Hope with Urgency, Optimism with Accountability

In closing, the Luzon LCOY 2025 is not mere reflection—it is a generational manifesto: hope driven by urgency, optimism married to accountability.

The Luzon youth dare the Philippines to think differently—for resilience that means transformation, not vulnerable endurance, for climate justice always inseparable from social justice, and for children and youth empowered as architects, not victims, of their future.

Their statement now forms the backbone of the National Youth Statement for COP30—an unstoppable, united front championing resilience, justice, and action across every local community.

This article was written and prepared by Emmanuel Salting of GIKAN the Environmental Journalism Hub of Bicol Region.