Nearly 20 years in the making, their application for CADT remains uncertain. Current Molbog indigenous leaders said that ten of their elders have already died waiting in vain.
Ancestral land title application in Palawan marred with delays
Category: Land Rights & Rural Development
Security guards in Palawan ancestral island hired by SMC subsidiary, police probe shows
Palawan PNP claimed that their investigation pointed to the likelihood that the Bricktree hired JMV services, which allegedly is the security agency providing guards in Mariahangin. The information was retrieved from the transcript of a meeting of Mariahangin residents with government agencies and confirmed by residents present in the dialogue.
Marcos Jr’s policies worsen rice crisis
“This chronic rice crisis is an insult to the Filipino people. As an agricultural nation, it is unacceptable that the basic staple of rice has become a symbol of food insecurity and exploitation.”
Martial law survivors fear dismissal of ill-gotten wealth cases with new Sandiganbayan justice
Martial law survivors fear that the appointment of Geraldine Faith Econg could reverse hard-won gains in the anti-martial law struggle.
Consumers and small businesses struggle with soaring rice prices
For Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, the maximum suggested retail price is just a band-aid solution and does not address the root cause of the continued rise in rice and food prices—the lack of support for local farmers, neoliberal agricultural policies, and the importation of cheap rice that undermines local production, as well as the absence of genuine rural industrialization.
Negros-based NGO helping farmers exposes lies, inaccuracies in terror financing complaint
PDG, at its core, has spent decades advocating for agrarian reform, sustainable agriculture, and the rights of small farmers and fisherfolk in Southern Negros. Genol told Bulatlat that PDG was founded in 1987 in response to the Negros famine.
Cheaper rice prices ‘unlikely’ as high-cost agri inputs remain a struggle for farmers
Rolan Cagas, who also sits as president of the Claveria Federation of Rice Farmers Associations, shared that their top concern was the rising prices of farm inputs, especially fertilizers, as it would now cost over P1,800 per sack, higher than the less-than-P1,000 price in the past years.
Molbog IPs stage 9-day hunger strike, DAR secretary no show
“[Secretary] Estrella, we are pleading to you. Please have mercy on us. The attacks against us have gone too far and our human rights are being violated. We can no longer go to school because of what San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is doing to us. Many young people among us still want to study, but I am one of those who had to stop because we can no longer live in peace there,” Rustene Pelayo Leoncio said in Filipino.
Residents expose resettlement program offered by SMC amid denial of involvement
Residents said that in 2023, SMC initially presented a “resettlement program” for Mariahangin families, offering money amounting to P75,000 with land or P100,000 if without land. Recently, the offer has increased to P400,000 per family to urge them to vacate their ancestral lands.
DAR urged to give land coverage back to the Molbog people
In 2023, DAR revoked the NOC of the 10,821 hectares of land of the indigenous peoples in Bugsuk, Palawan which was initially issued in 2014. Residents said that this decision by DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III prompted escalated harassment and intimidation in their community in Sitio Mariahangin.
News in Pictures | Rural women condemn land grabbing by powerful clans, foreign investors
Rural women condemned the Department of Agrarian Reform’s complicity in massive land-grabbing by the Villars, Aranetas, Cojuangcos, Ayalas, and foreign investors.