We, the undersigned organisations, urgently call for the protection of the indigenous Molbog and Palaw’an communities of Bugsuk and Mariahangin Islands in Southern Palawan, Philippines. These communities are engaged in the defence of collective rights, which are being disregarded by the large-scale luxury ecotourism project developed by Bricktree Properties, a subsidiary of the Philippine multinational conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC). SMC has been displacing the Molbog and Palaw’an communities from their territories with State support.

For over a year, the Molbog Bugsuk community have faced armed intimidation, legal harassment, and systemic repression. Since April 2024, more than 80 armed personnel from JMV Security Services, allegedly contracted by Bricktree Properties, have been repeatedly deployed to the area. On 29 June 2024, community members formed a human barricade to block the landing of armed guards on Mariahangin Island. A shot was fired during the stand-off. No one was injured, but the event left deep psychological trauma in the communities. Despite urgent calls, local police initially refused to provide assistance, only acting after intervention from the Commission on Human Rights in Palawan.

Following the incident, the community has reported continuing harassment, armed surveillance, and restricted access to their fishing grounds, violations that strike at the heart of indigenous self-determination and food security. This corporate aggression has been accompanied by a troubling pattern of impunity and criminalisation.

On 15 May 2025, ten indigenous and non-indigenous human rights defenders, now known as the “Mariahangin 10,” were arrested and charged with grave coercion for peacefully blocking their territory to prevent the entry of the former Executive Director of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and personnel from the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in June 2024. The blockade was carried out in response to concerns in the community that the NCIP-DAR group was attempting to bribe residents into relinquishing their ancestral lands for a proposed eco-luxury tourism project. Residents had also reportedly been warned by DAR staff of impending demolitions of their homes to make way for construction, prompting the community to assert their right to consultation and resist forced displacement. These arrests occurred several days before the detention of Oscar “Ka Ondo” Pelayo Jr., a respected Molbog community leader, on a revived illegal fishing charge from 2006. All individuals were released on temporary bail, but remain at risk of legal actions. Advocacy groups and legal experts widely regard these charges as trumped-up and retaliatory, and part of a broader strategy to divide, intimidate, exhaust, and silence indigenous communities defending their rights.

These incidents are not isolated, they reflect a deeply entrenched pattern of “development aggression” in the Philippines, where state-backed or state-tolerated corporate ventures systematically displace indigenous communities in the name of investment and progress.

The culture of profit-driven economic development and corporate impunity needs to end, and states and companies must adhere to international human rights standards and norms, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the UN Declarations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, on the Right to Development, and on Human Rights Defenders.

We call on the Philippine government to:

1. Demand Immediate Cessation of Harassment: Call for the immediate withdrawal of all armed private security personnel from Molbog ancestral lands and waters, end to all forms of intimidation and harassment against community members, and drop all charges against the human rights defenders immediately and unconditionally.
2. Advocate for Legal Recognition and Justice: The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) must reinstate the Notice of Coverage for Bugsuk and Mariahangin, and expedite the processing and approval of the Molbog and Palaw’an Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) applications.
3. Ensure Accountability for Human Rights Violations: Initiate an impartial investigation into all reported human rights violations and abuses, including the arrests of community leaders on questionable charges, and hold all perpetrators, corporate as well as state actors, accountable.
4. Promote Genuine and Meaningful Consultations and Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC): No development project should proceed on ancestral lands without obtaining free, prior, and informed consent of the affected indigenous communities, ensuring their full and effective participation in decision-making processes.
5. Support Indigenous-Led Sustainable Development: Ensure policies and programs that support and strengthen the Molbog Bugsuk community’s traditional livelihoods and cultural practices, recognising their inherent sustainability and their right to self-determination over their ancestral territory.
6. End development aggression and ensure corporate accountability: Fulfil your duty to regulate and oversee corporate activity by ending profit-driven development projects that violate human rights. Hold San Miguel Corporation and its subsidiaries accountable for repeated abuses against communities and human rights defenders, and take concrete steps to end the culture of corporate impunity.
7. Uphold international human rights obligations: Fully respect and implement international human rights standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, and the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. As duty-bearer, the government must ensure these standards are reflected in national policies, practices, and corporate oversight.

Signatories:

Civicus

Forum-Asia

International Land Coalition

Front Line Defenders

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