In October 1973, the CRC was created by Hermino Disini, head of Herdis Management & Investment Company, a well-known businessman and friend of then President, Ferdinand Marcos (1965-1986). CRC is a business enterprise, focusing on logging and production of pulpwood. The stated aim of the business was to maximize the use of Cordillera’s virgin forests for the economic development of the country [1]. The promises of the project were mainly the generation of jobs, fulfilling domestic timber and pulpwood demand, and generate revenue through exports of surplus to the surrounding region, namely Japan [2].

In the same year as its founding, the CRC was granted 100,000 hectares of logging concessions. Despite the Filipino government’s 100,000-hectare cap per company on logging concessions, Hermino Disini was granted an additional 100,000 hectares with the creation of CRC’s sister company, the Cellulose Processing Corporation (CPC) for processing of timber and pulpwood [3]. The concessions were granted in Abra, Kalinga-Apayao, the Mountain province, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and the watersheds of the Northern Luzon [2]. The concessions would provide enough raw materials for 25 years and thereafter a plantation would need to be developed to supply the pulp mill. To ease the pressure on the forests, the Bureau of Forest Development (BFD) received funding in December 1978, from the World Bank for a 33,000 hectares pine tree plantation to be put next to the CPC mill site in Gaddani [4] [12].

Under the terms of agreement, the CRC was allowed to cut 272,839 cubic meters of trees annually while the CPC was granted 129,989 cubic meters. Other requirements in the Timber and Pulpwood License Agreements included, reforesting open areas with pine and hardwood species, manage forest fires, and develop a forest plantation [1].

In 1976, the logging project received a multi-million dollar loan from a group of European banks with the national development bank of the Philippines as the guarantor. This was given mainly to construct a massive 66,000 metric ton long fiber pulp mill [3]. This mill would service the logging concessions of the surrounding region. In 1978, CRC became a state corporation as the Marcos regime called for Hermino Disini’s divestment from CRC and CPC [5]. In 1979, the project became fully operational, however the project never reached the intended commercial scale [4].

The concessions are located in the Cordillera region, an area inhabited by multiple tribal groups such as the Tinguianns, Kalinga, Bontoc, and Isneg people. The estimated amount of inhabitants living within the concessions when they were initially granted was around 10,000 people, the majority Tinguianns [1].

The main way of living for the indigenous people of the Cordillera is based on a subsistence economy through irrigated wet-rice cultivation, kaingin farming (slash and burn farming), hunting, livestock production and handicrafts [3]. Hence, their livelihoods rely strongly on the forests and watersheds. These tribal groups possess their own dialect, cultural traditions, and political systems based on a governance system led by village elders and peace-pacts governing intertribal relations. Ecology and nature hold a specific meaning to the tribes of the Cordillera, as the ecosystem is integral part of the concept behind one of their main philosophies towards life called ugali, encompassing the totality of life [6].

When the concession boundaries were drawn, they included ancestral lands belonging mainly to the Tinguianns and were granted without their consultation [4]. The Tinguianns have settled in this land for generations but present no proof of ownership outside of their traditional demarcations [1]. Hence, the government views the ancestral land as a public domain.

 The beginning of the CRC project continued without facing active resistance from the surrounding community. However, opposition to the project from the Tinguianns began as early as 1975.

In 1976, formal dialogues began between the local leaders of the surrounding tribes and CRC officials. The leaders requested the CRC respect their ancestral land rights and traditional resource usage. The main concern of the people was the destruction of their lands and livelihoods due to overuse of the land by CRC’s operations. Two other major concerns were the controlled burns of the CRC would impact their farming methods and river transportation of timber logs would threaten their irrigation and disrupt the ecology of the river [1][4]. The CRC did not respond to the Tinguianns requests.

Over the course of the next few years, multiple dialogues took place between the CRC and the local leaders of the surrounding communities, mostly the Tinguianns. Ultimately, these dialogues did not achieve a solution, as the CRC did not make any binding commitments to the demands of the surrounding communities. On the other hand, the CRC did commit to establishing itself in Abra through a community relations office. This office hosted a monthly newsletter, radio program and organized cultural activities to respect indigenous practices.

As diplomatic dialogues were not effective, the Tinguianns continued to organize themselves in the form of peace pact meetings against the CRC between themselves and other ethnic tribes. Also, they partnered with the local Catholic church to mediate the dialogues.

In 1977, local tribal leaders from Tubo town in Abra signed a resolution which documented their opposition to the CRC project due to its potential destruction of their cultural rights and local peace pact system [2]. In 1978, two key meetings happened amongst the tribes of the province. Multiple tribal leaders hosted an inter-tribal conference, resulting in the agreement of an alliance against CRC. Then in Tubo town, local tribal leaders signed an inter-tribal peace pact of the areas of Malibcong, Bucloc and Tubo [2] [7].

In January 1979, an inter-peace pact meeting known as the, Tiemp Budong, was held where over 500 community members attended to discuss the problems with the CRC. This meeting made a resolution to not cooperate with the CRC. Leaders expressed their concerns over the environment and their livelihoods. One Tinguiann elder from Tubo reflects during the meeting, “All we have now are the mountains, the trees, the rivers, and especially our freedom. All these the CRC is threatening to take away from us” [6]. These organized meetings established an agreed upon framework under the banner of opposing the CRC on economic, social, and ecological grounds.

Later in 1979 before the pulp mill finished, the BFD allocated approximately 3,500 hectares from the CRC concession as a reserve of communal forests and land for the Tinguianns in Malibcong [1].

By late 1979 the pulp mill was ready to begin operations. However, the initial operations faced community-level resistance from the Tinguianns which impacted operational capacity of the mill [2]. One of the main acts of resistance included disrupting transportation routes to concession sites. This resistance caused the Filipino government to provide military escorts for Cellophil project activities. From this point forward, the military began to have an active presence in the Abra province. A larger struggle began to emerge in the defense of ancestral land and resources rights against CRC.

An anti-Cellophil rebellion began in Abra that was led by local Catholic priests together with the Tinguianns and other tribal groups as well as members of the National Democratic Front. The National Democratic Front (NDF) also brought in members of the militant arm of the Communist Party, the New People’s Army (NPA) [1]. Many of the Tinguianns joined the NPA or NDF party during the struggle [7]. The NPA was one of the few possible forms of mobilization during the Marcos regime against state oppression and corruption. However, nowadays, environmental defenders and activists are sometimes falsely accused and discredited as being a part of groups such as the NPA in what is known as 'red-tagging'. 

One of the main forms of mobilizing during this particular time was the participation in the New People’s Army (NPA) who were an armed militant group. There was some overlap efforts of resistance between the indigenous people of the Cordillera and the NPA under the banner of anti-CRC and more broadly against state corruption and oppression. Nowadays, activists are sometimes discredited through false claims (known as red-tagging) as a part of groups such as the NPA. 

Over the next five years, members of the NPA along with the local people of the Cordillera region mainly the Tinguiann people, routinely attacked CRC camps and military escorts, causing millions of dollars in damages and halting operations for extended periods of time. In one attack in 1982, the NPA burned three transportation trucks, stole logging equipment, and pushed a bulldozer into the ravine [3]. Due to these attacks, CRC halted logging operations for six months in 1982 [1]. Often times opposition to the CRC operations blocked access to areas within the logging concessions territories making it difficult for the company to achieve its targeted pulp and logging outputs [2]. These combined resistant efforts were a main barrier for CRC to develop a successful commercial operation in the Cordillera, with the eventual abandonment of the project in 1986.

Annual Pulp Output from the CRC pulp mill from 1980 to 1984 [1].

1980: 16,400 ADMT

1981: 3,200 ADMT

1982: none

1983: 10,200 ADMT

1984: none

Annual Logging Output for the CRC from 1978 to 1985 in cubic meters [1].

1978: 61,646.55

1979: 45,740.16

1980: 101,577.72

1981: 3,589.64

1982: none

1983: 19,068.71

1984: 23, 507.65

1985: 12, 753.00