SCUTTLEBUTT

50-year pillage of IPs

The desecration of the ancestral land of the indigenous Molbog and Cagayanin tribes on Maria Hangin Island and in Bugsuk and Balabac, Palawan by groups associated with a gargantuan business interest started 50 years ago this year.

Last June, the minority groups appealed for help as armed security personnel from the corporate behemoth swarmed their villages and drove them away from their ancestral land and waters.

On 27 June 2024, Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) staff visited the island to inform the people that they would begin demolishing their homes to start the construction of an eco-luxury tourism project covering more than 5,000 hectares in Barangay Bugsuk, including Maria Hangin Island.

The indigenous peoples’ (IP) conundrum began in 1974 when, according to Jomly Callon, the president of the Sambilog-Balik Bugsuk Movement, the indigenous Pala’wan, Molbog and Cagayanin were driven from their 10,821-hectare islands of Bugsuk and Pandanan during martial law.

The Philippine Constabulary drove them away, and only the 38-hectare Maria Hangin Island was left.

After most of the IPs left the area, a nursery for hybrid coconut trees was set up.

A study by the Palawan NGO Network Inc. revealed that in 1979, a French businessman, Jacques Branellec, set up Jewelmer International Corp. and established a pearl farm in the ancestral waters.

Jewelmer expanded and allegedly committed abuses against the indigenous and non-indigenous fisherfolk around Bugsuk Island.

In 2000, indigenous and non-indigenous groups on Bugsuk and neighboring islands formed the Sambilog, or the Samahan ng mga Katutubo at Maliit na Mangingisda sa Dulong Timog Palawan (Association of Indigenous Peoples and Small Fishers from the Southernmost Tip of Palawan), to fight against the violation of their domain.

The Molbog applied for a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title, but the government did not act on it.

In 2005, Callon narrated that the municipal government of Balabac enacted an ordinance declaring the entire Balabac municipality a protected marine eco-region without consulting the IPs.

The ordinance prohibited the IPs from fishing in their traditional fishing grounds. The apparent objective was to end the IPs’ major livelihood and force them out of their ancestral land. Jewelmer continued and even expanded its pearl production.

In 2014, Sambilog conducted protests in Manila to call for the distribution of their lands in Bugsuk by virtue of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms. The DAR then issued a Notice of Coverage.

In 2023, nine years after the DAR issued a Notice of Coverage, nothing happened, and in the same year, the DAR canceled the Notice of Coverage.

Callon said the reason for the cancellation was that the area was not suitable for agriculture.

The removal of the coverage thus paved the way for the giant Asian firm to buy off several landowners.

Some of the families opted to receive the payment and leave the island due to relentless intimidation. About 20 households have left Maria Hangin Island, leaving 138 family holdouts.

The IPs are now appealing for help from the government to counter the powerful forces they are up against.