Katribu (Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas, or Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines) strongly denounced the April 8 decision of the Abra de Ilog Municipal Trial Court for convicting nine Mangyan-Iraya indigenous residents of Sityo Malatabako, Barangay San Vicente, Abra de Ilog for “other forms of trespass.”

Pieceland Corporation filed fabricated charges of malicious mischief, trespassing, and usurpation/occupation of real rights and properties in October 2025 against 32 indigenous residents to harass and evict them from their ancestral land. The court had earlier dismissed the cases of “occupation of real property” and “malicious mischief” against the victims.

The group said the indigenous residents should not have been charged simply for defending their ancestral land from plunder. The court’s ruling against them shows the continuing criminalization of those who defend and assert their rights to their ancestral land against plunderers and corporate encroachment.

The ruling forced some community members to post bail despite already struggling to survive. Some families were compelled to sell their livestock and other sources of livelihood just to comply with the court’s demands.

The state and Pieceland Corporation have long subjected the Mangyan-Iraya to harassment, forced eviction, illegal arrests, and destruction of their livelihood. This intensified on January 1, when the 203rd IBde’s aerial bombing in Abra de Ilog killed three indigenous children and one student researcher. These attacks worsened under the Marcos Jr administration using counterinsurgency and “development” policies to push corporate intrusion into ancestral lands.

“Pieceland Corporation plays a direct role in the harassment and displacement of the community through filing arbitrary cases and restricting the Mangyan-Iraya’s access to their own land. These cases show the intensifying campaign of the state to expel indigenous people away from their ancestral lands in favor of corporate interests, as now apparent in Marcos Jr’s aggressive push for renewable energy and mining projects,” Katribu secretary general Funa-ay Claver explained.

Katribu called for the immediate dismissal of the fabricated cases against the indigenous people and an end to militarization and harassment of Mangyan communities. Pieceland Corporation and state forces must be held accountable for violating the rights of indigenous people and their right to their ancestral land.