Brandon Lee, a Chinese-American activist from California, moved to the Cordillera region of the Philippines in 2010, where he became involved with the Ifugao Peasant Movement (IPM). This alliance of farmers and Indigenous people campaigns against corporate projects—particularly hydropower and mining—on ancestral lands. In recent years, two IPM leaders, William Bugatti and Ricardo Mayumi, were killed for their activism.

In August 2019, Lee was shot multiple times. He survived but was left paralyzed from the chest down.

Lee’s case reflects a broader pattern in the Philippines, which is considered the most dangerous country in Asia for environmental defenders. From 2014 to 2024, at least 573 environmental activists were killed in 10 hotspot countries, nearly half with state involvement. In the Philippines, over half of such killings show signs of state complicity.

These attacks often target those opposing powerful companies, such as Aboitiz Power’s hydropower projects. The government’s “red-tagging” practice—labeling activists as terrorists or communist insurgents—frames their work as a national security threat, justifying harassment and violence.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Center invited SN Aboitiz Power to respond but it did not.