Renowned actress and singer Nadine Lustre utilized her Instagram community channel to denounce a pervasive culture of disrespect in the country, highlighting pressing social issues that range from the mistreatment of Siargao locals to rampant animal cruelty and environmental destruction.
Reflecting on the state of Siargao—an island where she has spent much of her time since the COVID-19 pandemic—Lustre voiced renewed frustration over how some tourists treat the native population.
She had previously sounded the alarm on incidents of foreign nationals allegedly assaulting residents, and her recent statements indicate that these systemic issues remain unresolved.
”You see it in the disrespect locals here on the island continue to receive,” Lustre stated. “The way some people come here and treat locals as if they are below them, as if hospitality means servitude, as if kindness gives them permission to disrespect boundaries, spaces, and people.”
The multi-awarded artist went on to criticize a deep-seated sense of entitlement that disrupts the established local community, which thrived long before the island transformed into a commercialized tourist hub.
“You see stories of aggression, entitlement, violence, and complete disregard for the community that existed here long before tourism ever did. It’s painful watching people treat this island like a temporary playground while the people who actually call it home are left carrying the consequences,” she added.
Shifting her focus, Lustre condemned instances of animal abuse, a cause she has championed for several years. She lamented the widespread perception that animal lives are secondary to human comfort.
”And you see it in the way animals are constantly disregarded, as if their lives do not exist beyond human convenience,” she expressed. “People intentionally harming innocent beings that have done absolutely nothing to deserve cruelty. Treating lives as disposable because they cannot speak our language.”
The singer also took aim at urban deforestation, characterizing the aggressive felling of trees as a regressive step disguised as modernization.
”Trees that have stood long before us are suddenly being cut down in the name of ‘development’ and ‘progress,’ when in reality, so much of it feels deeply backwards,” Lustre remarked. “It’s unsettling watching people destroy the very things that keep us alive so casually, as if nature is just another object to consume, reshape, or remove whenever it becomes inconvenient.”
Data from Global Forest Watch indicates that Metro Manila currently suffers from critically depleted urban tree canopies, compounding the public outcry over the removal of mature trees. Lustre’s remarks coincide with a wave of online outrage targeting local government-sanctioned tree-cutting projects within the City of Manila.
Particularly, the tree removals along Quirino Avenue have sparked fierce public demonstrations and formal petitions, with environmental advocates asserting that infrastructure initiatives should be engineered around decades-old green spaces rather than wiping them out.
Concluding her message, Lustre left her followers with an appeal for introspection and greater ethical responsibility.
“And the hardest part is that we consume so much of this every single day. These are only some of the things I’ve been taking to heart lately. There’s so much more,” she reflected. “I believe it’s still worth reminding ourselves to move through the world with more mindfulness. More awareness. More love and compassion. More respect for people, communities, nature, animals, and lives outside of our own.”