Angela Mariz Asuncion: Mga Mandirigma ng Lokal na Komunidad ng Kalusugan ꕤ Isang Serya ng Talang Dalisay Para sa HEARTH Summit

Welcome — to our first series of our interviews with community & wellness leaders in the Philippines, a interview series by Talang Dalisay for the upcoming HEARTH Summit Philippines! From people raised in the archipelago, to the diaspora, we are running this interview series until the LUNAS Pilipinas summit in January 14, to encourage our friends around the world to join in learning and de-stigmatizing Filipino culture on wellness & health starting with Siquijor Island. 

Name, age, where you are from, where you currently live 

My name is Angela Mariz Asuncion and I am 27 years young, born in Saudi Arabia, and grew up near Tkaronto, Turtle Island (so-called Toronto, Canada) since 2000. In 2022 I had the greatest honor of moving back home to learn and work in solidarity with frontline local and Indigenous communities affected by the climate crisis, mining exploitation and the global energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

What started your personal wellness journey? Walk us through how this sparked in your life. 

I believe that every struggle I have experienced since I was born has been a catalyst for my personal wellness journey. Growing up in a predominantly white, suburban, middle-class neighbourhood as a first-generation low-income brown Queer Filipino immigrant was difficult to say the least.

Through my masters degree, I had the privilege of learning and researching about the colonial roots of my ancestors which incited sacred rage within me to act. By educating myself, I became aware of the ways I upheld capitalism, classism, white supremacy and the patriarchy in my embodied experience as a child of the diaspora. I witnessed the impacts of such colonial mentalities through the inheritance of intergenerational traumas from scarcity mindsets to feelings of minority myth competition to masking as a way to prove my worthiness.

Through coming face to face with my Shadows I learned of intergenerational healing and the Oneness of all. I realized that I am only a figment of all versions of myself that have come before me; that I exist only as a product of the pain, suffering and beauty of my ancestors— the mystery of it all is everything I am. My education and my new-found community in queer revolutionary spaces led me to ask myself, “Who am I performing for?” “What is more radical than sharing with the world your most authentic Self? What is more loving than showing up through the power of vulnerability?” It was during this time I journeyed towards self-acceptance, beginning to let go of the performative masks that capitalism conditioned me to believe I had to wear in order to be loved. But of course I am still journeying on the path of constant learning and unlearning and I happily will be forever :’) 

But I’d say that one of the most pivotal moments of my personal wellness journey would be in my teenage years, where the death of a loved one led me to experience depression at its deepest depths. During a time where it was difficult to find silence in what felt like the never-ending chatter of my anxious mind, where I had longed to live outside of my skin for fear of being perceived - I was called to look inwards. Through Buddhist teachings and the active practice of meditation, I witnessed my stream of consciousness for the first time! Meditation taught me the art of deattachment and the impermanence and fleeting nature of my emotions, feelings, thoughts, and identity. 

Each time I observe my Self from third person, I recognize the sacredness of human experience- seeing each thought as a Divine message to look within, an opportunity to allow each emotion to flow through me without judgement or control. And in these moments is where I meet my shame, my anxiety, my doubts.  Realizing that light cannot exist without darkness, these are the spaces where I muster the courage to face all parts of my Self with loving curiosity and acceptance, where I continuously become transformed by love! 

What are personal practices that you consistently have been carrying out that has been helping your wellbeing? 

My intrinsic nature is to love and care so deeply and so wholly with every entity of my being!!!!:’) To live any differently feels like a disservice to myself and those around me. 

With this being said, mindfulness and finding interconnectedness and deep gratitude for all are fundamental to the ways I continue to cultivate this deep love. Journaling, writing poems, meditation, photography – and of course being surrounded and in communion with the mystic of the elements, hugging trees,  touching moss, playing in the ocean, being barefoot in the mountains, have always been portals to empowering me to find the beauty and miraculousness in the so-called mundane. My relationships with friends, family, loved ones and community have also been sacred mirrors to incredible teachings of radical love. In turn, cultivating a deeper connection to these practices allow me to see the beauty of all reflected inside of my own vessel, moving me closer towards self-compassion and well-being. 

I wrote this passage coming out of a spurt of depression that encompasses my understanding of the virtue of gratitude for all perfectly, “the winter months are hard, but i find warmth knowing that every experience and person that crosses my path have a deep meaning and lesson to teach me, as i to them. i am thankful for the good, i am even more thankful for the so called bad because every fleeting moment has brought me to the miraculous now.” 

Tell us about your advocacy, your work here, and what you all aim to do with it together.

Through my work, I have borne witness to the insidious and systemic reproduction of colonial plunder inflicted by the mining industry. The relentless pursuit of business as usual extractive practices for the increasing demand for green technologies have not only perpetuated cycles of poverty and displacement but has also intensified environmental devastation, ecological crises, and climate inequities. 

My advocacy centres on moving beyond a Just Energy Transition (JET) towards advancing a Just Transformation. Just Energy Transition is increasingly becoming mainstream discourse to describe the ways society will phase out fossil fuels and shift towards renewable energy sources through equitable approaches. However, at Bantay Kita we call for a Just Transformation - acknowledging the opportunity we have to use the rise of JET issues as a means to push for a gender transformative and decolonial climate and energy future. One that prioritizes the protection, empowerment, and shared prosperity of climate-vulnerable communities and ecosystems affected across the green energy and technology supply chain. 

With this being said, I am a devoted climate activist, organizer and communications specialist who wears multiple hats! I am the Lead Technical Consultant and Just Energy Transition Specialist at Bantay Kita - Publish What You Pay Philippines, the Philippines national coalition on mining accountability and community empowerment. I also work as the Coordinator for the Asia-Pacific Transition Mineral Accountability Working Group (AP-TMA WG). The Asia-Pacific Transition Mineral Accountability Working Group is a regional network comprising of civil society leaders across Australia, Indonesia, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, working together to strengthen human and environmental rights due diligence throughout the green energy supply chain. In these positions, I have the honor of working directly with local and Indigenous communities to amplify their voices and demands for transition mineral justice in research and policy at the local, national and international levels. Specifically, I work to ensure that frontline communities are not only protected but also recognized and meaningfully engaged as key rights-holders in the global energy transition. 

With your aforementioned answer, what are current and future plans people could look forward to when involving communities in the Philippines? How could people give back to this space or get involved? 

I believe strongly in the power of communication and storytelling. The ability to humanize complex issues in a way which resonates with the general public is key to actualizing transformative change and mobilizing collective climate action. 

Recently, Bantay Kita released its publication, “From Just Transitions to Just Transformations: Community Based Scoping Study on the Impacts of Transition Mineral Mining in the Philippines”. Reading and sharing the injustices happening in these nickel-mining communities with your friends and loved ones already makes a world of a difference towards awareness raising and movements towards international solidarity. 

If you are interested in working more closely, at Bantay Kita we are always looking for diverse avenues to provide financial and technical support for affected communities. Currently, we focus on supporting communities with sustainable livelihood opportunities and legal empowerment capacity building initiatives to address the devastation the climate crisis and nickel-mining exploitation have inflicted on their lands. If you are interested in partnering or learning more we would love to hear from you! Additionally, Bantay Kita is also always open to having volunteers join our team to support either online or on the ground field work :-)

How do you balance advocating for others' wellness aside from your own?

Having experienced burn out multiple times, I notice that burn out for me oftentimes manifests as not only putting others’ needs above my own but also at the expense of my own wellbeing. Setting healthy boundaries, and being honest and realistic about my energy and my capacity to give,  has been a journey of its own - but my partner has taught me that honesty is the greatest gift you can give someone and that life is about the marathon rather than the sprint:’) 

As a recovering people pleaser, I recognize that setting boundaries is the highest form of love, not only for yourself, but also for the people around you. Not only are you setting an example and cultivating a safe space for others to be their most authentic selves, but when you are able to prioritize your health and take care of yourself, then your ability to love, support the movement, engage in your passions, dream of collective liberation and build collective utopias, will become more sustainable and emboldened. 

I am working to dismantle the capitalistic and intergenerational trauma held in my body to over-work as if on survival mode 24/7. When life feels overwhelming, I take a moment to pause, observe, recognize and name the feelings arising in my body with loving curiosity and compassion. 

What would you say to encourage Filipinos to go out of their comfort zone to destigmatize mental health & wellness? 

To this day I continue to navigate feelings that I am not “enough”. For me, growing up I always felt never Filipino enough, never Canadian enough. Moving to the Philippines, I was so excited to finally feel belonging, to finally have the chance to reconnect with my roots and to “be wholly and fully Filipino”. It is in returning to my homeland where I realized that the singular definition of being Filipino will never exist. Filipino identity is rooted in pluriversality - it is ever-evolving, all encompassing across our 7000+ islands, spanning over 180 ethnolingustic groups, and interwoven between all the diasporic communities planted across the world. 

I remind myself and my community that needing to be “enough” is the empty lie that capitalism sells us to profit from our insecurities; to push for us to be more, to do more, to consume more, to fill the void of impossible expectations of ourselves and others. 

However, the reality is that you are more than enough just as you are - and accepting this knowing will always remain the most radical act!

Let me share some positive affirmations which have grounded me:

I let go of attachment to the idea of Self and honour the fluidity of being and identity. I let go of the rigidity of who I perceive myself to be and trust in full faith that those that surround me love me for all authentic moving parts of my Being. I honor all aspects of my Self, and with loving compassion I see the Divinity in the ebbs and flows of the perpetually shapeshifting kaleidoscope of who I am.