Defend Mariahangin! Defend Bugsuk! Stop the Attacks!

Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas vehemently condemns the escalating harassment and intimidation faced by residents of Sito Mariahangin, especially the Molbog and Palaw’an Indigenous Peoples communities in Bugsuk Island, Palawan. The deployment of over 80 armed private security personnel in the early hours of April 4, 2025, is a blatant act of violence against the Molbog and Palaw’an peoples and a direct assault on their safety, dignity, and right to ancestral land. The continued fear and intimidation imposed on the residents of Mariahangin is a clear violation of their fundamental rights.

This operation—carried out by guards reportedly hired by Bricktree Properties, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation—reveals the violent face of land-grabbing in Bugsuk. San Miguel Corporation, expanding its business interests in tourism, has long attempted to displace Indigenous communities in favor of profit-driven tourism and corporate expansion.

Tourism should not come at the expense of Indigenous Peoples’ lives, livelihood, and culture. It must not be used as a pretext for dispossession and violence. Instead, tourism should benefit communities and serve as a learning venue for understanding and respecting Indigenous ways of life—ways that offer wisdom and sustainability, especially in this time of environmental and social crisis.

The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has remained silent in the face of these violations. Despite repeated efforts from the people of Bugsuk to engage the NCIP on issues of harassment, land grabbing, illegal displacement, and food blockade, the office that is mandated to defend the rights of Indigenous Peoples continues to shut its doors.

We call on the Marcos Jr. administration and local authorities to immediately remove all armed personnel from Indigenous communities in Bugsuk and to halt all ongoing and future projects that violate the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The company must also be held accountable for using threats and violence to coerce the communities.

We stand with the people of Bugsuk in their determination to protect their ancestral land against corporate greed. Their strength in the face of intense harassment inspires us and many others—and we must heed the call to lend our support to their struggles. #

Reference:

Beverly Longid

KATRIBU National Convener