Bantay Bukid (Forest Guards)
Matanam Delfin and Joan are both indigenous forest guards, who have devoted much of their lives protecting the world’s rarest eagle, the Philippine Eagle, from a horde of threats to its natural habitat, the Mt. Apo in the island of Mindanao. The island loses 40, 000 hectares of forests every year.
Delfin uses his sharp eyes to spot nesting sites. He has worked for decades to protect his ancestral domain and monitor Philippine Eagles in the wild. On the other side of the mountain, Joan leads the tribe in all forest foot patrol, while doing regular inventory counts of the trees and wildlife.
Delfin recently developed glaucoma. He has been seeking financial support for his surgery; otherwise, he will lose his vision forever. Joan and her tribe are threatened by intruders that extracted around 80 hectares of forest cover in their domain. They continue to fight for justice by building evidence for their recently filed case.
The documentary revolves around the individual and communal conflicts besetting indigenous forest guards, as well as the political, economic, and personal issues surrounding the protection of the Philippine Eagle and its wildlife defenders.