The Sambilog-Balik Bugsuk Movement and Ateneo Para sa Bugsuk strongly condemned the ongoing threats, criminalization, and forced eviction of residents in Sityo Marihangin, Barangay Bugsuk, Balabac, Palawan.

On December 9, the court subpoenaed 282 residents for a case land grabbers filed against them. This aims to evict them from the area. Among those subpoenaed are children and even the deceased. Residents question the titles the complainants held since the island has long been recognized as ancestral land.

According to the group, the latest case is merely a new tactic to intimidate and expel the indigenous people from their own land.

San Miguel Corporation (SMC) has for several years tried to claim the indigenous Malbog people’s lands. From June 2024 to August this year, 96 armed personnel from JMV Security Services guarded the indigenous residents. For refusing to leave the area, 20 sitio residents were charged with grave coercion, direct assault, and illegal fishing. Their leader, Oscar “Tatay Ondo” Pelayo, remains detained at the Ihawig Penal Colony in Puerto Princesa.

Through Bricktree Properties, SMC’s subsidiary in Palawan, Ang plans to build a 25,000-hectare tourism infrastructure for the ultra-wealthy in Balabac. Construction has already begun on the large island of Bugsuk.

The group calls on all citizens, church people, and organizations to stand with the residents of Sityo Marihangin. It also urges the local government of Palawan, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, the Department of Agrarian Reform, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to follow the law and due process, revoke company permits, and recognize the rights of the indigenous people. It appeals to the Commission on Human Rights, the Congress, and the Senate to investigate human rights violations on the island and the illegal eviction of the indigenous people.