Indigenous Peoples Month Spotlight Shared Stewardship: Stories of Empowerment, Purpose, and Renewal

Sometimes, life pulls us away from what we love most, only to lead us right back to it. 

This reflects the story of RJ Novem Macuray, whose path forward led her home, to the same purpose she once thought she had left behind, now embraced anew through her work with Project Caraga as our Data Science Monitoring and Validation Associate.

After leaving her government post in Lanuza to seek better opportunities, she thought it would be easy to leave behind the advocacy she had long stood for: uplifting and empowering Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs), a cause deeply rooted in her identity as a proud Manobo woman.

But purpose has a way of finding those meant to carry it. Two mentors in Chief Markets Officer Rowil Aguillon and Community Development Head Alfredo Toring, both non-IPs devoted to Indigenous empowerment, reminded her of the cause she once championed, and the people who still need her to stand for her fellow Indigenous Peoples.

Meanwhile, Jerman Acala’s story, our forest guard from CADT 239 in Bislig, remind us that redemption can take root in the same soil.

Once a logger cutting trees to provide for his family, Jerman now walks the same forest with renewed purpose, protecting the very land he once relied on for survival.

Empowered through Project Caraga, he and his fellow forest guards now blend traditional knowledge with modern science, strengthened by digital tools and skills training.

And deep within the ancestral forests of Bislig lives Virgilio “Datu Danao” Domogoy, a man who speaks the language of life within the trees.

Known for his remarkable oneness with the rhythms of the forest, Datu Danao can recognize a species not just by sight, but by sound.

He has seen Philippine Eagles soar and hatchlings take their first flight, not from textbooks, but from dawns spent beneath the forest’s watchful eyes. Now, as Project Caraga’s Biodiversity Enforcement Officer, he bridges traditional wisdom with scientific data, ensuring that Indigenous knowledge continues to guide modern ways of conservation.

This Indigenous Peoples Month, we honor RJ, Jerman, and Datu Danao—three stories, one shared truth: that purpose, healing, and wisdom all begin where roots run deep. 

For the people. For the forest. For the future.