MANILA — More than four months have passed since residents of Sitio Marihangin in Bugsuk Island, Balabac, Palawan celebrated the end of 397 days of occupation by armed guards from JMV Security Services. But now, with the spate of judicial harassment fueling their collective anxiety, they renew their efforts to guard their small island.
“There is a failure of government, that’s what we know for sure,” human rights lawyer Tony La Viña — part of the residents’ legal team — said in a press conference on December 22. “There is a real danger that the community will be evicted this Christmas.”
Sitio Marihangin residents received a temporary restraining order (TRO) from Palawan Regional Trial Court Branch 165 on December 17, as part of the relief prayed by the nine alleged “land/title holders” for their accion reinvindicatoria case — a legal action to recover ownership of a property.
Failure to comply with the order is considered indirect contempt and may lead to fines of P30,000 ($545.45), a six-month imprisonment, or both.
Read: Sitio Marihangin residents fight unfavorable temporary restraining order
“It should not be like this,” Molbog indigenous resident Jilmani Naseron said in a statement.
“We will not go anywhere! Marihangin is ours!” the women of Marihangin also collectively stated.
The community already started guarding their island overnight since December 20.
Sambilog – Balik Bugsuk Movement said that it is the residents’ response to the brewing fear that armed guards will force entry into the island again.
Another wave of legal hurdles
When the hearing transpired on December 11 after the court summoned 282 residents — including children and a dead resident — the community’s legal counsel challenged the jurisdiction of the court.
Legal counsel Nica Millado said that the basis of ownership of nine title/land owners is an affidavit of waiver allegedly signed by the Marihangin residents, forfeiting their right to the ancestral domain. However, Millado emphasized that their client – the residents themselves – denied signing such waiver.
“Inside the document, it was stated that some indigenous peoples are surrendering their ownership of the land to those people who applied for titles. But the problem is, all remaining residents of Sitio Marihangin denied this – no signing ever transpired,” Millado added.
As a response, the legal counsel prepared another affidavit signed by the residents, formalizing their denial and disavowal of the alleged waiver form.
Meanwhile, La Viña said that the affidavit of waiver is also illegal under Philippine laws.
Photo by Dominic Gutoman/Bulatlat
“[You] cannot sell nor waive your right to ancestral domains. It is prohibited by the law,” La Viña said. “We think that these nine title holders are just a proxy of a corporation.”
Section 5 of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act stipulates that the indigenous concept of ownership holds that ancestral domains are community property, which belongs to all generations and therefore cannot be sold, disposed, or destroyed.
The corporate hands
“This newest spate of attacks is linked to the ambitious luxury tourism project of San Miguel Corp. in Balabac,” said Sambilog – Balik Bugsuk Movement in a collective statement also signed by allies.
“Should this paradise for the rich be built under the teardrops of the poor people?”
The dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. awarded 10,821 hectares of ancestral domains in Bugsuk and Pandanan Islands to the former CEO of SMC, Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. in 1974.
Marihangin was not included in the land acquisitions but, in 1979, the ancestral waters restricted public access and fishing for the local communities due to the establishment of Jewelmer Corp., which set up the pearl farm in the surrounding waters of Bugsuk.
A joint report by Altermidya and Bulatlat traced the decades-long cronyism from President Marcos Sr. to Ferdinand Marcos Jr. which allows for the entry of such projects at the expense of the marginalized sectors.
“Before Danding Cojuangco and his company came, there were residents already living here (in Bugsuk). The indigenous peoples of Palaw’an, Cagaynin, and Molbog are already there. But the island has been seized by Cojuangco later on Martial Law, forcibly displacing the indigenous peoples, to give way for the coco levy nursery,” said Romillano Cano in a previous interview.
SMC confirmed its ownership of the 10,821 hectares of lands in Bugsuk but denied involvement in Marihangin.
The sitio is an adjacent island of Bugsuk and under the jurisdiction of Bugsuk’s local government.
SMC subsidiary Bricktree Properties is developing a 5,500 hectare eco-tourism project in Bugsuk due for completion in 2028.
Despite the denial of their involvement, the residents already exposed last year that the company has been offering them a resettlement program, offering money amounting to P75,000 ($1284.79) with land or P100,000 ($1713.05) if without land.
Bricktree also admitted in a report by Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism that it has an initial interest in purchasing properties on the island since the alleged “land/title holders” approached them with an offer to sell.
Much needed action
The demands from the residents and the groups expressing solidarity remain the same: they urge President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to stop the corporate land-grabbing and immediately respond to the situation in Marihangin.
“We cannot remain silent while mothers clutch their children at night, listening for the sound of approaching boats; while elders weep at sacred graves they may be forced to leave behind; and while an entire community faces the unthinkable possibility of spending Christmas without a home,” the allies signed in a collective statement.
In unison, they call on the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to finally approve the two-decades-old application of the Marihangin residents for certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT).
Earlier this year, the NCIP revealed to the residents that the application won’t progress because of two claimants.
CADT refers to the title to “formally recognize the rights of possession and ownership of indigenous peoples,” however, it has been criticized in the past years for being “tedious, expensive, and problematic.”
Read: Ancestral land title application in Palawan marred with delays
The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has been urged to give the land back to the Molbog indigenous peoples. DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III revoked the Notice of Coverage (NOC) of the 10,821 hectares of land of the indigenous peoples in Bugsuk, Palawan which was initially issued in 2014 under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER).
Read: DAR urged to give land coverage back to the Molbog people
It has been more than a year since the Molbog indigenous residents flew to Manila to conduct a hunger strike,calling for a dialogue with the DAR secretary. But since then, there has been no progress on their request.
The allies also called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to investigate the harassment and the armed threats against the community. The Congress is also urged to conduct a probe and strengthen the protection of indigenous peoples against corporate land-grabbing of ancestral domains.
“The suffering inflicted on Indigenous peoples has gone too far. Their livelihoods have been destroyed by threats from armed groups and the filing of baseless cases. This has also created deep insecurity among island residents. We call on government agencies to fulfill their mandate to deliver justice to our indigenous brothers and sisters,” said Tony Abuso from the Episcopal Commission on Indigenous People of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). (JDS)
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