Senate investigates Marihangin land dispute
MANILA – The remaining Marihangin residents in Palawan called on the Senate to hear their side on the decades-long struggle for their ancestral land.
“We are calling for your support against the threat of forced eviction of 282 residents here in Sitio Marihangin,” Amina Naseron said in a video statement released on February 16. “We hope to participate in the next hearing of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs.”
On February 13, the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities and Muslim Affairs conducted a public hearing presided by Sen. Robinhood Padilla.
Present in the hearing were the legal representative of Marihangin residents Nica Millado, as well as Caesar Ortega, former OIC executive director of National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) who is now the representative of nine titleowners claiming ownership of large portions of the Marihangin island.
Millado said that the application of the Molbog indigenous peoples for certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) has been pending for 21 years. Many of their community leaders already died waiting for recognition of their communal property.
Read: Ancestral land title application in Palawan marred with delays
“Marihangin is an ancestral domain. Due to the fact that it has been pending for years and they experienced harassment, they were forced to avail of other remedies,” Millado said, referring to the land coverage they previously had with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in 2014.
In September 2023, DAR revoked the notice of coverage (NOC) of the 10,821 hectares of land of the indigenous peoples in Bugsuk, Palawan which was initially issued in 2014 under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER). Residents said that this decision by then DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III prompted escalated harassment and intimidation in their community in Sitio Marihangin.
Read: DAR urged to give land coverage back to the Molbog people
At the Senate hearing, DAR Regional Director Marvin Bernal said that the decision was appealed but Estrella III maintained the decision in an order dated April 25, 2024.
Padilla said that he hopes that the Senate can help resolve the issue. However, Millado said that given the history of violence when the deployed blue guards of the titleowners fired at the residents who were defending their lands, it may not be easy.
“They fear for their lives. We should understand where the indigenous peoples are coming from,” Millado said. “Their assertion is that their ancestral lands are being stolen through forgeries of their signatures.”
When Padilla asked if the titleowners will no longer deploy blue guards, Ortega said that they seek to deploy engineers who will conduct clearing operations in the island. It was also underscored in the hearing that the relocation offered to the residents may not be sustainable and accessible for the residents.
Ortega said that San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is not involved in the deployment of the blue guards in the island. However, he admitted that the relocation program which the residents exposed to the media is donated by the Bricktree properties, a subsidiary of SMC. The company also donated a multi-purpose building on the island.
Bricktree Properties is developing a 5,500 hectare eco-tourism project in Bugsuk due for completion in 2028. Bricktree also admitted in a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism that it has an initial interest in purchasing properties on the island since the alleged “land/title holders” approached them with an offer to sell.
Lyn Moraco, another Marihangin indigenous native in the island, said, “We wish to participate in the hearing to investigate our impending eviction and to build solidarity in our fight for our ancestral lands.”
There are 282 residents in the island of Sitio Marihangin. Most of them received court summons from Palawan Regional Trial Court Branch 165 last December 2025, stemming from the complaints filed by nine titleowners, calling them squatters and informal settlers. (DAA)
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