Name/Title
Marivic ‘Tarsila’ DanyanEntry/Object ID
PIE4274Description
When the Philippine army’s 27th infantry battalion attacked her village on 3 December, Marivic Danyan lost her husband, father and two brothers in little more than two hours.
In the outside world, this made headlines as the worst massacre of environmental and land defenders in 2017. The government of President Rodrigo Duterte claimed the village was a base for insurgents.
For Danyan, it was a personal tragedy and another injustice against her community, the T’boli, who have been struggling for decades against a coffee plantation linked to one of the most powerful families in the Philippines.
She said her father – the former village chief, Victor Danyan – was angry when the community’s forest was cleared but had patiently waited 25 years for the plantation’s lease to end. When the lease was extended without the prior consent of the community, he protested by cutting down some coffee trees and instead planting corn. The military attack followed months later.
Under Duterte, the Philippines has become the second most murderous country in the world for land and environment defenders with 48 killings last year.
The 28-year-old, who is the first person in her village to graduate from high school, vows to continue the struggle.
“I don’t have a choice,” she says. “Blood has been spilled and we are ready to give our lives. I won’t use violence. I will use the law, but I will continue to fight.”Edition
Edition Size
5Edition Number
1Location
Building
BANKWorkplace
Workshop17Province
GautengValuations
Valuation Type
PricingValue
ZAR 5,800.00Date
Jun 20, 2025Intake
Notes
Thom Pierce (born 1978 in Jersey, Channel Islands) is an award-winning British photographic artist, based in Johannesburg, South Africa.General Notes
Note
Claudia@workshop17.com