Home Complaints database Tumandok Indigenous People of Panay et al. vs. Daewoo Engineering and Construction
Complaint

Tumandok Indigenous People of Panay et al. vs. Daewoo Engineering and Construction

Human rights violations against Tumandok Indigenous people connected to the Philippine Jalaur dam

Date filed
26 August 2025
Keywords
Countries of harm
Current status
Filed
Sector
NCP

Allegations

On 26 August 2025, the Tumandok Indigenous People of Panay, Jalaur River for the People Movement (JRPM), and Korean Transnational Corporations (KTNC) Watch filed a complaint against Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd. (Daewoo) to the Korean NCP. The complaint focuses on the implementation of the Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project Stage II, which involves the construction of a mega-dam on the ancestral land of the Tumandok, Panay island in the Philipines’s largest indigenous group. Daewoo has been contracted to implement the Project, which has allegedly led to environmental and human rights harms for the Tumandok and human rights defenders, including JRPM members.

The complainants have documented human rights violations perpetrated by Philippine security forces against Tumandok communities and local civil society organisations, including: extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests and detention, particularly the summary executions of nine Tumandok leaders by Philippine security forces in December 2020 and subsequent arrests of 16 others; deployment of military and police forces to communities and subsequent militarisation of these communities; surveillance, profiling, threats, and harassment of community and civil society members; failure to comply with the right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC); loss of ancestral land and Tumandok burial sites, environmental destruction, and displacement of members of Tumandok communities. Since 2018, multiple United Nations Special Rapporteurs have engaged with representatives of the Tumandok communities and civil society organisations, expressing their concern about violations connected to the Project’s implementation.

Among other things, the complainants call on Daewoo to: withdraw from or discontinue all support for the Project; terminate its relationship with dealings with the Philippine government and its agencies involved in enabling violence against Tumandok communities; and recognise the grave human rights violations that have taken place during the Project’s imlpementation, including the 2020 killings.

In 2018, two complaints were filed against Daewoo and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) (the financier of the Project) to the Korean NCP. The complaints were rejected by the NCP in its initial assessment.

Relevant OECD Guidelines

More details

Defendant
Company in violation
Complainants
Affected people

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