By DOMINIC GUTOMAN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – A community of Molbog indigenous people in Sitio Mariahangin, Brgy. Bugsuk, Balabac, Palawan has been preventing the Philippine police and alleged representatives of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) from entering their community as threats of displacement continue to intensify.
For the past three days, residents have taken turns guarding their small island village because both forces are reportedly still trying to enter the community.
In a video posted on social media, police claims that they have the “right to inspect areas without coordination or permit with the community.”
“We did not allow them to enter because they did not have proper coordination with us. While there were tensions and negotiations between the residents and the police, members of SMC were seen trying to enter our island,” Marilyn Pelayo, a resident, said in Filipino.
The encroaching on their lands and the looming demolition of their homes aim to give way to a large-scale eco-luxury tourism project spanning more than 5,500 hectares known as the “Bugsuk Island Resort.”
The Environmental Impact Summary (EIS) uploaded by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) this year reveals that the proposed project is scheduled to finish in 2038. In the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) form submitted by SMC, they identified the eco-tourism project in Bugsuk as part of their principal properties in 2023.
In an earlier report by Bulatlat, residents implicated the SMC in the harassment, forced eviction, surveillance, and escalating violence in their community.
Read: In Palawan, residents say San Miguel Corporation implicated in harassment, surveillance
They were even threatened at gunpoint to force them out of their ancestral lands earlier this year. However, police officers said it was out of their hands, and instead “rescued those people who opened fire at us,” Pelayo said. “We cannot sleep well these days because we fear that they will enter the community. Our husbands have skipped work and our livelihoods have been paralyzed just so we can defend our ancestral land from their attempts to seize it. Our children sometimes do not have anything to eat.”
There are 90 remaining families who remain firm at defending their ancestral land.
Residents have asked the Marcos Jr. administration to address this. They have also called on the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate the harassment they are facing. They have likewise asked the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to aid them in their claim to the ancestral land.
“They should not wait for the violence to erupt. The police should be driven away and respect our decision as Molbog indigenous peoples. We are fighting for our ancestral lands on this small island. We call on the President and the Filipino people to stand in solidarity with us,” Pelayo said.
People’s organization Sambilog-Balik Bugsuk Movement reiterated their call for the Philippine government to reverse the decision and reinstate the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) coverage over the 10,821-hectare Bugsuk land. They also demanded that the NCIP expedite the application of the Palawanen and Molbog community’s Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT).
“[We] demand the withdrawal of invading security guards in Mariahangin Island and end the harassment of indigenous communities and fishers,” Sambilog said.
Since 1974, the communities of Bugsuk, including the Palaw’an, Molbog, and Cagayanin indigenous groups have suffered from displacement and land dispossession. They were driven away from the 10,821 hectare of ancestral land on Bugsuk Island and Danding Cojuangco’s business interests took over, setting up a nursery for hybrid coconut trees.
Bulatlat asked the NCIP and SMC for their side but there is no reply as of this writing. In the harassment incident in June, SMC denied involvement of their personnel in the report of Palawan News. (JJE, DAA, RTS)
