By DOMINIC GUTOMAN
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — San Miguel Corporation (SMC) confirmed its “legal ownership” of 7,000 hectares of titled properties on Bugsuk Island except Sitio Mariahangin, a separate island, where the Molbog indigenous peoples are residing.
The denial of ownership and involvement with Mariahangin island, however, contradicts the claim of the residents. They said that Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) staff informed them on June 27 of the impending demolition of their homes to make way for a large-scale eco-luxury tourism project spanning more than 5,500 hectares known as the “Bugsuk Island Resort.”
In the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) form submitted by SMC, they identified the eco-tourism project in Bugsuk as part of their principal properties in 2023.
Residents said that in 2023, SMC initially presented a “resettlement program” for Mariahangin families, offering money amounting to P75,000 ($1284.79) with land or P100,000 ($1713.05) if without land. Recently, the offer has allegedly increased to P400,000 ($6852.19) per family to urge them to vacate their ancestral lands.
“This caused further division among our community, even in our direct families. Some of our kin were even recruited to work for SMC. They feel like they can pay all of us in Mariahangin, which is why they are being denied entry to our community,” Angelica Nasiron said in Filipino.
Contested ownership
Sambilog-Save Bugsuk Movement, a group of Molbog, Palaw’an, and Kagayanen indigenous peoples and advocates, said that the land claimed by SMC is an ancestral land of the indigenous peoples who have long resided in Bugsuk, Palawan, even before it was claimed by individuals such as Manuel and Eduardo Cojuangco in 1974.
SMC said that it acquired the lands through the purchase of companies that have “held titles since their original issuance in 1974 as part of a government program revolving the redistribution of agricultural lands to farmers.”
This ownership is being contested by the indigenous peoples and dubbed it as injustice, prompting the establishment of Sambilog-Balik Bugsuk movement to reclaim thousands of hectares seized by the cronies of the Marcos Sr.’s administration during the Martial Law.
Sambilog successfully filed its application for a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) for 56,000 hectares of Bugsuk Island and other neighboring islands with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in 2005, which was accepted by the NCIP in the same year.
However, the approval of their CADT application has not been granted. In the most recent case, a former director from the NCIP was also behind the criminal complaint against a community leader in Bugsuk, who was defending the ancestral lands of their family.
Read: Molbog leader charged with grave coercion for asserting right to ancestral land
Agricultural lands coverage
In 2023, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) revoked the Notice of Coverage (NOC) of the 10,821 hectares of lands of the indigenous peoples in Bugsuk, Palawan, which they initially issued in 2014. Residents said that this decision, through Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III, escalated the harassment and intimidation in their community in Sitio Mariahangin.
Residents, who are currently holding a nine-day prayer and fasting event in front of the DAR Central Office, said that the lands remain agricultural in Mariahangin since seaweed farming is the residents’ main source of livelihood, followed by the cultivation of their crops (e.g. corn). It is specifically stated in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988 that all public and private agricultural lands are part of the coverage for distribution.
Notably, after the DAR decision in 2023, residents received complaints and demand letters, asking them to vacate their lands. They were also threatened that refusing to vacate their lands would mean criminal charges, “payment to damages” amounting to P1 million, and fees for the lawyers amounting to a separate P1 million.
Read: DAR urged to give land coverage back to the Molbog people
Unrelenting defense
Tarhata Nasiron-Pelayo, a Molbog leader and resident in Sitio Mariahangin, said that they will continue to assert the ownership of their lands, underscoring the historical fight of their ancestors. “Whatever happens, even if it means my death, I will never give up our ancestral lands,” Pelayo said.
“Our families have been buried in Mariahangin. It is disrespectful for us to leave our ancestral lands. We will not cower,” Pelayo added in Filipino.
Pelayo and other interviewed residents said that SMC’s “consultations” are a pretext to coercing them to accept the settlement money. In a document retrieved by Bulatlat, some residents were being threatened with civil and criminal cases if the settlement was not accepted.
Sambilog said that the recent acts of violence and threats are “part of SMC’s intimidation tactics, despite the denial of the company, to pave the way for the ecotourism project of its subsidiary Bricktree Properties, Inc.”
“The presence of SMC on the island cannot be denied, as they aim to intimidate the citizens who desire peace in their lives. Thus, we call on President […] Marcos Jr. to direct DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III to truly implement the law,” Sambilog said.
Pelayo’s son who also joined the prayer and fasting program asked, “Is this how the law works? Only for the rich? What about us, the poor?” (RTS, DAA)
*Despite being a separate island, the Sitio Mariahangin is under the jurisdiction of Brgy. Bugsuk.
