Environmental Defenders Ann and Billie Dumaliang Aren’t Backing Down

Billie Dumaliang, 31, clearly remembers when in 2021 she was told that two on-duty forest rangers for Masungi Georeserve—a 6,600-acre conservation site in Manila’s outskirts that she and her sister Ann, 32, help manage—had been shot. “We always say that there are risks, but when the risk becomes real, it’s a different feeling,” she says.

While the Philippines consistently ranks as the deadliest country in Asia for environmental defenders, the Dumaliangs and their more than 80 rangers haven’t been deterred by physical or legal threats—whether from property developers, poachers, loggers, or the government. They’ve been targeted by disinformation and harassment campaigns, and this year the Philippine environment department announced plans to nullify the agreement that allowed Billie and Ann’s team to reforest and conserve the area, citing supposed constitutional issues. The sisters are open to renegotiating with the government, but they also say they’re more than ready to take their battle to court.

The Dumaliangs’ father Ben, who spearheaded initial plans to rehabilitate the area in the early 2000s, “would take us up these mountains during the weekends,” Ann recalls, adding that they regard Masungi as a “little brother.” It’s home to Indigenous communities as well as hundreds of flora and fauna species and prehistoric limestones. And it acts as a water sponge for chronically flooded Manila.

Their conservation and geotourism efforts have been recognized worldwide. But the accolades are cause for relief more than celebration, lending their team a sense of security. “The international space has been a huge source of social fencing for us,” Ann says. In a country often resigned to complacency, the Dumaliangs are proud that by being “very deliberate, very committed,” Billie says, they can serve “as an example or model of what is possible.”

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