By DOMINIC GUTOMAN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) top official did not face the Palawan-based Molbog indigenous peoples (IPs) on a nine-day hunger strike outside the DAR main headquarters in Quezon City where he holds office.
In 2023, DAR revoked the Notice of Coverage (NOC) of the 10,821 hectares of land of the indigenous peoples in Bugsuk, Palawan under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) which was initially issued in 2014. This decision allegedly came from DAR Secretary Conrado Estrela III.
Revoking the NOC, residents said, resulted in further harassment and intimidation at their community in Sitio Mariahangin. During the hunger strike, the remaining residents of Sitio Mariahangin continue to report attempts of outsiders to enter their community.
Rustene Pelayo Leoncio is an 18-year old Molbog and a victim of harassment in the fishing waters of Sitio Mariahangin. He joined the hunger strike but was admitted to a nearby hospital on December 7. Despite this, he continued to protest and joined the program in front of DAR, calling out their refusal to address their concerns.
“[Secretary] Estrella, we are pleading to you. Please have mercy on us. The attacks against us have gone too far and our human rights are being violated. We can no longer go to school because of what San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is doing to us. Many young people among us still want to study, but I am one of those who had to stop because we can no longer live in peace there,” Leoncio said in Filipino.
SMC confirmed its “legal ownership” of 7,000 hectares of titled lands in Bugsuk Island, except Sitio Mariahangin, a separate adjacent island, where Molbog indigenous peoples live. The denial of ownership and involvement with Mariahangin island, however, is inconsistent with the residents’ claim that SMC has an interest in their area.
Residents said that in 2023, SMC initially presented a “resettlement program” for Mariahangin families, offering each family P75,000 ($1,284.79) with land or P100,000 ($1,713.05) if without land. Recently, the offer has allegedly increased to P400,000 ($6,852.19) per family to vacate their ancestral lands.
In the most recent interview of Bulatlat to the residents, they say that there are around 90 families that continue to defend the Sitio Mariahangin. Previously, there were around 400 families residing on the island.
Read: Residents expose resettlement program offered by SMC amid denial of involvement
Leoncio was also among the residents in Sitio Mariahangin who defended their lands from 16 unidentified armed goons who opened fire at community residents and tried to enter their community on June 29.
“We would like to live in peace. But even in our local government, we are not being heard. We hope for the President to hear and help us. We should not be subjected to this violence just because we are poor,” Leoncio said.
In an interview with Bulatlat, Sambilog-Balik Bugsuk Movement said that only a few staff from DAR and a director visited the camp of the striking Molbog people. However, they said that the decision of DAR remains final and that Estrella III could not attend to their concerns because of a busy schedule.
Elder and Molbog leader Tarhata Nasiron Pelayo said that she will not accept the money being offered to vacate their ancestral lands. “Even if they offer millions, I will not heed to them. Even if they harass and kill us, we will not leave our island,” she said in Filipino. “We fled to Manila to seek their help, to get their attention. But now, we are already leaving but none of them attended to our concerns and helped us in defending our island.”
Tarhata’s husband Eusebio Pelayo who is currently facing criminal complaints from the former director of National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), told Bulatlat, “Some of us are already falling ill due to fasting. Our remaining family in Sitio Mariahangin continues to be harassed while we are here.”
“Despite them not showing up, we continue to hope and fight. We will continue to defend our ancestral lands, and we hope to go back here in Manila to plead for the President to help us,” Eusebio said.
Bulatlat reached out to DAR requesting for a comment about the grievances of the Molbog indigenous people. There is no response as of this writing.
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 industrialist Danding Cojuangco’s business interests took over, setting up a nursery for hybrid coconut trees.
The indigenous peoples have the collective rights to land, territories, and resources recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which the Philippines approved. The long history of land dispossession is a violation of the collective rights that Molbog people are supposed to enjoy. (RTS, DAA)
