DEFEND MALATABAKO! Pieceland, Out of the Mangyan-Iraya Ancestral Land!

KATRIBU Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas stands with the Mangyan-Iraya of Sitio Malatabako, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro, in their continuing fight against the land-grab by real-estate company Pieceland Corporation. We condemn Pieceland’s encroachment on their ancestral land, the demolition of their homes resulting in their forcible displacement, and the continuing criminalization of community members.

Since October 2024, the Mangyan-Iraya of Sitio Malatabako have faced harassment, intimidation, and trumped-up charges as they stood their ground and remained on their ancestral land which Pieceland had already fenced off, to assert their rights. On June 1, 2026, the remaining 14 homes of the Mangyan-Iraya were demolished and their belongings removed, forcibly displacing the community.

While we welcome the recent acquittal of charges against community members of Sitio Malatabako, we condemn the filing of new trumped-up charges of “trespassing”, “usurpation of real rights to property”, and “malicious mischief” against seven more Mangyan-Iraya following the June 1 demolition. The community members only learned of the cases on September 2, 2026.

We also condemn the detention of seven Mangyan-Iraya at the Abra de Ilog Municipal Jail, following the September 16 arrest of one community member and the voluntary surrender of six others at the Abra de Ilog Municipal Police Station on September 18, amid threats to their lives. All seven were among the nine community members declared guilty of “other forms of trespass” on April 8, 2026, and are serving 15-day detention sentences.

The continuing attacks against the Mangyan-Iraya of Sitio Malatabako expose Pieceland Corporation’s efforts to displace them from their ancestral land and deprive them of their right to practice their ways of life. These attacks are part of the broader criminalization of Indigenous Peoples who defend their territories against destructive projects.

Across the country, Indigenous communities have been asserting their rights to their ancestral lands through protests, the setting up of barricades, and other forms of resistance. Plunderous mining and renewable energy projects, the Pax Silica initiative, and military bases and facilities are being rampantly built in areas that overlap with ancestral lands.

These forms of resistance are legitimate exercises of Indigenous Peoples’ inherent right to self-determination: the right to govern their territories, determine their future, resist destructive projects imposed by foreign and local corporations, and challenge policies and decisions that undermine their rights.

The Mangyan-Iraya of Sitio Malatabako are among the Indigenous communities who continue to defend their ancestral land. KATRIBU stands with them in their continuing struggle, and joins their call to junk the trumped-up charges filed against them and hold Pieceland Corporation accountable.

Their fight, along with that of other Indigenous Peoples asserting the rights to ancestral lands and self-determination, is just. Their rights should be upheld and respected, and no corporation or state force has the right to take away their ancestral lands, displace their communities, and criminalize their defense of their territories.

Reference:

Beverly Longid

National Convener

KATRIBU Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas