They turned our ancestor’s burial sites into dumping grounds.

“They want to take everything so we insisted on coming here to express ourselves. We will embrace our land even if they harass us. We will not give it even if we get hurt.”

Molbog community member Anjilon Flores from Balabac Palawan stressed this point as Molbog indigenous peoples travelled to Metro Manila ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit.

They aim to amplify their resistance against the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources’ Enhanced National Greening Program (E-NGP) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). 

Along with multi-sectoral groups and environmental advocates, they exposed the E-NGP and EDCA as tools of imperialist war and resource plunder, threatening the life, livelihood, culture, and ancestral lands of the Molbog people. 

Roots

Long before Spanish colonial rule, the Molbog community have been the traditional stewards of Balabac island, depending on coconut farming, shifting cultivation, fishing, and harvesting seaweeds for livelihood. 

“Palawan is a key biodiversity area and known to be the last ecological frontier of the Philippines,” Bianca Intia of Kalikasan Timog Katagalugan (TK) said at a press conference on October 26.

It shelters several endemic animal and plant species, including Philippine Mouse-deer which are exclusively found in Balabac and nearby islands. 

Flores described their fields as prosperous with cassava, banana, corn, peanuts, and rice, making it their community’s main source of income for decades. 

For them, lands are sacred that require ancestral permission before undertaking any activities like when entering the land, performing rituals, planting, harvesting, and cutting trees.

Born in Balabac, Flores cannot accept the prohibitions imposed by the E-NGP in using their resources. “They would restrict us from cutting trees which we use for firewood. This is also the livelihood for most of us. What will happen if they forbid us? Our livelihood will also be gone.”

Bangsa Molbog leader Emmanuel San Esteban lamented the encroachment of Balabac Air Base on their homes, sacred prayer grounds, and burial sites in Barangay Catagupan without any consultation with their tribal officials.

“They turned our ancestor’s burial sites into dumping grounds. The mountains where we do our rituals were flattened,” San Esteban said.

The local authorities said that the remains of their ancestors would be transferred to a different location. However, this is against the principles and culture of the Molbog tribe.

Derooting

The indigenous residents dread the impact of both projects, as it begins to disrupt their peace, routines, and tradition. 

They stressed that access to their land has been restricted, limiting the products they could gather from the forest. 

According to DENR, the E-NGP was signed to rehabilitate the estimated 1.2 million hectares of the remaining unproductive, denuded, and degraded forestlands by 2022. It also aimed to maintain and protect existing forests. 

This was already implemented by the DENR in several areas in Balabac where trees were planted in Barangay Catagupan, Agutayan, and Indalawan. 

The communities worried about fines for damaging plants under E-NGP while clearing farmland. Cutting a tree must also be replaced with a hundred more trees and a Php 6,000 ($94) fine. 

Kalikasan TK underscored that E-NGP did not aim to benefit communities but only to carbon offset the Ipilan Nickel Corporation’s deforestation and mining operations in Brooke’s Point, Palawan. 

The Molbog people also expressed concerns that monocropping and fast-growing plant species under the E-NGP could affect forest biodiversity and native vegetation. 

“The E-NGP is within our ancestral domain, for which we had applied for a Certificate on Ancestral Domain Title (CADT),” said San Esteban, questioning how the project progressed faster than their CADT application.

They first filed their CADT application in 2004 but the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) only certified the application in 2019. To expedite the process, the NCIP required them to pay at least Php 1.6 million ($25,092.33). Their CADT remains pending. 

San Esteban said that Balabac Air Base in Barangay Catagupan also pushed through because of the NCIP’s manipulation of the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) process. 

“Our mayor has been conducting surveys in our area. Only eight people agreed to the project while the majority of more than 100 said no,” San Esteban said. The NCIP conducted similar surveys in other areas and used the results to support documents for the project’s approval. 

Earlier this year, the Southern Tagalog Exposure (STeX), along with environmental defenders, visited Balabac to investigate the project’s impacts. It would be built along Molbog’s 26,000 hectares of ancestral domain and waters, specifically in Barangay Catagupan with a population of 2,000 people. 

Planting US troops

Marky Casaquite of STeX said that residents believe that a headquarters building would be ready in around two months. Some of those who are living on the land were hired for the EDCA site construction with a promise of a stable job. They later learned that they would only be employed for this specific facility. 

Since its construction, residents have also reported incidents of physical assault and violence inflicted by municipal and military officers.

“I am the one being targeted by the soldiers wearing facial coverings. They do not introduce themselves when they threaten me,” San Esteban said. 

When he raised their concerns about road restrictions to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), San Esteban experienced being kicked in the back by municipal officers. He tried issuing a blotter but the police declined to document the incident. 

“So you know, if something happened to me, they are the ones to blame. They said straight to my face that they will soften my head and dump it somewhere,” he said. 

San Esteban also criticized the unannounced live military exercises that sowed fear among their children. Foreign military soldiers were also being deployed in their area. 

“The children are being scared. They were covering their ears because they did not inform our community that they would fire their guns,” he said in an interview.

According to the Balabac Air Station’s Base Development Plan, the EDCA site would cover approximately 301 hectares of land for 45 facilities that include firing range, solar farm, solar power plant, and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Hangar. 

The Hangar would serve as aircraft staging and maintenance, logistical sortie and distribution hub, and civil military coordination center. 

Earlier this year, the US army brought a rocket launcher to Balabac Island to conduct a temporary live fire simulation. Molbog people were aware of the ongoing conflict between the US and China, but contested that it is not enough basis to use ancestral lands for war.

“I hope those foreigners will be expelled from our lands. Since they got here, all they brought are restrictions and deception,” San Esteban said.

Sowing imperialism

“The destruction of Balabac, Palawan is multifaceted in cause and consequence. The construction of the EDCA air base and the implementation of the E-NGP prioritize US strategic and corporate interest over the welfare of the Molbog community and the environment,” Intia said in a statement. 

National Coordinator of Bai Indigenous Women’s Network Kim Falyao stressed that these are also experienced by the locals in Dupax Del Norte and Kasibu due to large-scale minings, the Igorot due to renewable energy projects, the Tumandok due to Jalaur Mega Dam, and the Ayta due to the Pax Silica Initiative. 

“Marcos Jr. markets our lands as sources of minerals and wealth that serves the greed of the United States, building Philippine and US bases, camps, and facilities where they store weapons and conduct military exercises,” said Falyao, condemning the militarization that only threatens, bombs, and protects these projects.

Mong Palatino of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) said that these aggressive developments in critical ecosystems are global preparations for imperialist war and plunder. 

“Stop land grabbing, investigate those who inflict violence, and put them in jail. We hope the soldiers will be removed from our area so they can no longer disturb us,” San Esteban said.

On the approaching visit of US President Donald Trump, Falyao said that Indigenous Peoples would reiterate their calls to drive away the greedy US imperialist that plunders, destroys the environment, and kills the Indigenous Peoples lives and livelihood. 

“Hope is not lost. The Filipino people are not afraid to express their indignation. Witness this on Trump’s visit to the Philippines during the ASEAN Summit,” Palatino said. (RTS, DAA)