Katribu: Cabacao massacre, bombings expose attacks on Indigenous Peoples’ assertion of land rights vs land-grabs, militarization

Press Statement

January 6, 2025

The Katribu National Alliance of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines condemned the strafing and bombing operations conducted by the 203rd Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on January 1, 2026 in Brgy. Cabacao, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro.

These attacks killed civilians, including three Mangyan-Iraya children and Jerlyn Rose Doydora, a student researcher documenting Indigenous life and culture. The mother of the three was also wounded, while youth researcher Chantal Anicoche remains missing following the incident. Humanitarian aid and independent investigations are blocked, as the military threatens progressive human rights groups attempting to enter the area.

“This is neither ‘collateral damage’ nor a so-called ‘clearing operation’,” said Beverly Longid, national convener of Katribu. “They are acts of state terrorism, deliberate attacks designed to sow fear, trauma, and submission among Indigenous communities defending their ancestral lands. They constitute clear violations of human rights and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), carried out by the AFP under the command of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.”

The January 1 bombings and massacre came after a series of grave human rights violations in the province. On December 23, Ramon “Monet” Alcantara–an environmental advocate and long-time ally of Mangyan communities resisting mining and land grabbing–was forcibly taken from his home by combined police and military forces. This followed the earlier abduction and torture of Mangyan-Iraya woman farmer Dolores Mariano Solangon, further exposing the climate of fear imposed on Indigenous communities under sustained militarization.

Katribu asserts that these are part of a sustained pattern of state attacks against the Mangyan of Mindoro. The Mangyan-Iraya ancestral land of Sitio Malatabako is being forcibly seized by real estate company Pieceland Corporation. Since March last year, Mangyan communities in Oriental Mindoro have been subjected to repeated bombings and intensified militarization. This campaign has already claimed lives: in April 2024, Mangyan-Iraya youth Jay-el Maligday was shot dead by the military and falsely tagged as a member of the New People’s Army.

“We demand the immediate pullout of military forces from Mangyan ancestral lands and the unhampered entry of humanitarian aid, fact-finding missions, and independent investigators into the affected communities,” said Longid. “We call on the Commission on Human Rights to investigate this incident and provide support to the victims and their families.”

Katribu called on the international community and all human rights advocates to stand with the Mangyan in the defense of their ancestral lands, their rights, and their lives. “The world must not remain silent while the Philippine state wages terror against Indigenous Peoples. Marcos Jr. as AFP chief bears direct responsibility for these attacks on Indigenous communities,” said Longid.

#DefendMindoro

Reference:

Beverly Longid

National Convener, Katribu