Kristel C. Quierrez is a Dumagat-Remontado youth residing in the community of Maksa, General Nakar, Quezon, Philippines. She is an indigenous youth leader that has been participating in many important campaigns and different platforms to defend and represent our ancestral domain. Graduating last year with a Bachelor of Secondary Education, majoring in English, she hopes to use her degree to give back to her indigenous community. Her community has always been her inspiration, and their support motivated her to achieve her diploma.
She is deeply committed to safeguarding both the environment and her community’s rich heritage, a passion shared by many indigenous youth leaders. This commitment led her to co-found the first indigenous youth organization in her landscape, Katutubong Kabataang Umuugat sa Kabundukan ng Sierra Madre (UGBON). The organization is rooted in several ancestral domains within the Southern Sierra Madre, the longest mountain range in the Philippines. Its mission is to empower indigenous youth advocates to take meaningful action in preserving one of the country’s most vital ecosystems.
