Leaders of indigenous groups in Luzon have dismissed Malacanang's claims that President Arroyo has done much to uplift their welfare and promote their political, civil and human rights.

In a statement issued after a conference at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City, representatives of the Aeta, Mangyan, Dumagat, Igorot and Palaw'an communities slammed President Arroyo for claiming she had issued Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) for 700,000 members of indigenous communities, saying "the grant of CADTs to a few communities is contrary to the promise the President had initially made, when she delivered her first-ever State of the Nation Address (SONA) as incumbent. She deliberately chose to forget her own promise that her administration would grant 100 CADT's annually."

They also junked Mrs. Arroyo's boast that "the Philippines has become more secure and safe against environmental degradation and natural disaster," noting that "eight years of her administration and policies that promoted the exploitation of our ancestral domains by transnational, multinational, or foreign corporate investments resulted in the massive destruction of our environment, deforestation, pollution of waters and landslides. In General Nakar, Quezon, a 'log ban' is implemented but only against small scale loggers.
Large-scale logging remains unabated, which caused great destructive floods such as what happened on November 29, 2004."

Airing their gripes, the indigenous leaders said Mindoro was also swamped with floods in 2005 and 2006, and the first-ever deluge in Conner, Apayao happened on November 26, 2007 because of large-scale logging.

The same year, several houses were destroyed in Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya because of landslides and heavy floods caused by mining operations.

"The opening up for business of our ancestral domains by the government to capitalists, whether local or foreign, who will only exploit and profit from our lands, waters, and other natural resources, does not contribute to the development and progress of our livelihood as indigenous peoples. Entry into our ancestral domains without genuine consultation and our free, prior and informed consent, of giant businesses and projects like dams in the provinces of Tarlac and Quezon, mining in Nueva Vizcaya, Apayao, Mindoro, Pampanga and Palawan, and tourism in Pampanga and Tarlac, has only left us more deeply mired in poverty and abuse. Our leaders are rendered vulnerable to various threats because of these projects. Most, if not all of them, have been gravely threatened and intimidated; some have been murdered. These projects have also ushered in the culture of deceit and bribery," they added.