A Pastoral Statement on the Manobo-Pulangiyon Kianteg (MPK) Struggle for Ancestral Domain
53rd Priests and Consecrated Persons Annual Assembly
We, the 134 priests and consecrated persons of the Diocese of Malaybalay, firmly express the fruits of our collective discernment during our 53rd annual assembly on November 18-20, 2024 at the Diocesan Pastoral Center, Impalambong, City of Malaybalay. As our response to the urgent challenges of political participation and synodal family life, we have chosen to reflect on the theme “What Do You Seek? Pastoral Pathways to a More Welcoming Church.” The process and content of our prayerful gathering has allowed us to critically reflect on our political participation in the transformation of the negative realities in the light of our Christian faith that compels us to discern appropriate pastoral actions. As we celebrate the Jubilee of Hope 2025, we are challenged “to be obstinate in our faith … anchored on the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:3-5).”
The Historical Background of MPK Community
We are aware of the historical and social injustices suffered by the Manobo-Pulangiyon Kianteg (MPK) community that comprises a thousand families who have been struggling to reclaim and repossess their ancestral land “containing [more or less] an area of 1,111.4040 hectares,” located in the adjacent Barangays of San Jose and Butong, in the Municipality of Quezon, Province of Bukidnon.
Historically, the agrarian struggle of the MPK members began in 1921 when Bukidnon’s first governor Don Manolo Fortich“borrowed” the ancestral land from them through a verbal agreement he made with tribal leaders at the time. Accordingly, “Fortich transformed their ancestral land into a cattle ranch, put up a fence around it, and hired a private army to watch its perimeter.” In effect, their ancestral land was grabbed as Fortichfailed his promise to return it to them after 30 years.
In 1986, the Kianteg Development Corporation (KDC), a company managed and co-owned by Mr. Pablo Lorenzo III, leased from Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) about 958 hectares of MPK’s ancestral land (comprising the Forest Land Grazing Management Agreement or FLGMA No. 122 and Lot No. 8966, Cad-895-D, Dsd-140-023647). This lease agreement expired on December 31, 2018.
The Current Situation of MPK Community
It has been reported by National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) that KDC’s lease agreement with DENR is “fraught with violations especially so that some of these areas are now under lease with big companies for pineapple plantations instead of being utilized for agro-forest purposes.” Moreover, the Montalvan Ranch, an adjacent company where Mr. Pablo Lorenzo III serves as both its president and chairman, has also used a parcel of MPK’s ancestral domain.
Recently, many MPK members have suffered violence and oppression as a consequence of their agrarian struggle. In fact, one of their very vocal tribal leaders, Datu Renato Anglao, was killed by three unidentified gunmen on February 3, 2017. They were also being red-tagged and vilified by the local government. They are continually threatened and intimidated by the presence of KDC’s private armies who would not hesitate to use violence against them if they attempt to enter their ancestral domain.
Many MPK families are desperately living in a dangerous situation. In 2018, more than a hundred Lumad families have decided to live in makeshift shanties along the highway to gain legal recognition of their ancestral land. Recently, however, only around 80 families remain, representing the nine clans of MPK community. Their inhuman condition has been described as “living in so much hunger and poverty, eating only kamoteonce a day or nothing at all and the children are all malnourished, suffering from different kinds of diseases, drinking water where they are swimming.” The children have to be tied up, especially at night, as seven children have already been hit by running cars and trucks.
Since the ancestral domain of the MPK is classified as alienable and disposable land, DENR ordered, as early as 1999, that upon the expiration of the said lease agreement in 2018, its “Office will no longer facilitate the renewal.” Thus, on February 1, 2019, DENR sent a Letter to KDC, through Pablo Lorenzo III, informing the corporation that the previously leased areas are now under the exclusive jurisdiction of the NCIP.
We sincerely thank the NCIP for implementing the Republic Act no. 8371 or the Indigenous People Right Act (IPRA) of 1997. Firstly, it served the notice to KDC on Feb 1, 2019, instructing the corporation to vacate its previously leased ancestral land. Secondly, it issued to MPK a Certificate of Recognition of Ancestral Domain on October 6, 2021, which recognizes “the Manobo-Pulangiyon Indigenous Peoples (IPs) … as the rightful owner and possessor of a certain ancestral domain situated in Barangay San Jose and portion of Barangay Butong, Municipality of Quezon, Province of Bukidnon, containing an area of 1,111.4040 hectares, more or less.” Thirdly, to stop the KDC from illegally occupying and cultivating the ancestral land, it courageously issued the Cease and Desist Order (CDO) against the corporation on April 30, 2022. And lastly, it approved MPK’s Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) numbered R10-QUE-0113-00261 on January 13, 2023. It is, therefore, very clear that the law is on the side of the MPK IPs.
We are Challenged to be in Synodality with MPK Community
We commend our Indigenous Peoples Apostolate (IPA) of the Diocese of Malaybalay, together with its supportive civil society groups, for accompanying the MPK community in their process of preparing for a peaceful and legal occupation of the ancestral domain. They crucially helped the MPK leaders engage in tactical alliance with other concerned government agencies particularly the DENR, DAR, PNP Regional Office, and Military. They all gave assurances of support for MPK’s plan to occupy their ancestral domain. Consequently, the NCIP endorsed on September 25, 2024 the “Legal Opinion of the TWG [i.e., technical working group] on the Proposed Repossession on Ancestral Domain Covered by CADT No. R10-QUE- 1301-261.”
We initially rejoiced when we heard about the MPK’s plan to repossess and occupy their ancestral domain on October 21, 2024. Accordingly, they shall be accompanied by the support group including three Bishops: Noel Pedregosa of Malaybalay, Valentin Dimoc of Bontoc-Lagawe, and emeritus Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro. Together with them are representatives from IPA of the Diocese of Malaybalay, Xavier Science Foundation, Birhen sa Kota Development Foundation and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples (CBCP-ECIP).
We were very indignant to know that the MPK members failed in their plan to repossess the ancestral domain on October 21, 2024 because “the PNP coercively stopped them.” As one of the bishops who joined the support group boldly testified: “The PNP also coercively stopped us at the checkpoint and blocked the road leading to the IP community without any valid reason.” The PNP’s coercive action is tantamount to serving and protecting the oppressive interest of KDC that continues to illegally occupy the titled ancestral domain the MPK Lumads.
We share the frustration with the MPK members who were deeply puzzled by the NCIP’s sudden abandonment of their entry plan as revealed in the suspicious actions of the Acting NCIP X Regional Director and the NCIP X Legal Officer. We were surprised to learn that these NCIP regional officers had tried to make the MPK leaders believe that pursuing the plan to occupy their ancestral land would be an illegal entry if they don’t have a “court order” from the Supreme Court. In effect, these NCIP personnel were suspiciously trying to persuade the MPK members not to repossess and occupy their ancestral domain according to the IPRA legal procedures.
We sadly recalled MPK’s failed attempts in the past to peacefully enter their ancestral domain. We could not forget the violent incident on April 19, 2022 when the members of MPK Community attempted to enter the five hectares open area, which had been identified earlier during the hearing on April 18, 2022 at the Quezon Municipal building. To witness their initial entry, they were accompanied by a support group from Church and civil society organization (CSO) and the then Presidential Candidate Leody de Guzman, who happened to be there for his election campaign. The witnesses recounted how the KDC Blue guards opened fire at the MPK members, who were at that time performing their religious ritual of entering the identified open area, and reportedly wounded at least five persons.
We could feel MPK’s traumatic experiences of being abandoned and betrayed by the PNP and NCIP in the foregoing failed attempts. Like them, we have also greatly expected that both government agencies would properly implement their respective mandated roles to protect and join the IPs especially in those critical circumstances. We were quite hurt to hear the disturbing words of their humiliated tribal leader: “basura ang pagtan-aw sa amo sa mga tawo…” (people looked at us as garbage).
We Embrace the Church’s Preferential Option for the Indigenous People
As members of the Church who have particular vows to follow Jesus Christ closely, we reflectively ask ourselves: what is it that we should be doing when we say “our main concern with tribal peoples is to bring them the Gospel of Christ”? In the light of our preferential option for the poor, we re-affirm the social teaching of our former Bishop, Francisco Claver, SJ, that it is essentially part of the Church’s mission “to defend the rights of the indigenous people, guarding them against violators.”Grabbing their ancestral domain is categorically both illegal and immoral.
As Church of the Poor, we have the moral duty to obey the Spirit of the Lord who sent us “to bring glad tidings to the poor” and to liberate the victims of injustices and all forms of oppression (cf. Lk 4:18-19). To remain neutral and silent in the face of injustices and oppression can never be a Christian option!
In the spirit of synodality, our ecclesial communities are called to inclusively relate with Lumad communities and join them in their struggle for the fullness of life. The inhuman situation perpetuated by their oppressors is not God’s will. It hinders the building up of a truly human and Chistian community; it unduly delays the coming of God’s reign in our history. It is Chistian imperative to treat our Lumad brothers and sisters as fellow travelers towards the shared destiny of the fullness of life offered by Jesus Christ (cf. Jn 10:10). Like us, they also belong to the one human family under inclusive reign of God.
Following St. John Paul II, we recognize the intimate connection between IPs and their ancestral land. We believe that when “indigenous peoples are deprived of their land, they lose a vital element of their way of life and actually run the risk of disappearing as a people.” IPs identify themselves with the ancestral land so intimately that separation from it would naturally lead to the destruction of their culture and eventually to their extinction. With St. John Paul II, we link the ancestral land rights with the right to life.
In Laudato Si’, Francis calls us to join the IPs in their agrarian struggle, especially in treating the land as “a gift from God and from their ancestors who rest there, a sacred space with which they need to interact if they are to maintain their identity and values.” A concrete way to defend IPs, therefore, is to join them in their struggle for agrarian justice and help them cope with the negative effects of capitalistic modern development that forces them “to abandon their homelands to make room for agricultural or mining projects which are undertaken without regard for the degradation of nature and culture.” From this perspective, we cannot separate our ecological care for the environment and our liberative care for the Lumads.
We are Called to Courageously Act as a Prophetic Church
We support the different initiatives of our Diocese to report the anomalous behaviors of the local authorities, as well as their consequent irregular incidents in implementing the laws, to the Philippine President and the PNP Chief. We also support our Diocese’s initiative to send a Letter of Complaint to the NCIP Chair.
While waiting for their respective replies, we renew our commitment to continue our solidarity with the oppressed MPK community as we join them in the struggle to repossess their ancestral domain according to the legal procedures articulated in the IPRA law. We believe that proper implementation of this law is legally sufficient. Thus, we insist that MPK should no longer be required to secure a court order from the Supreme Court before claiming their ancestral land.
More specifically, to support MPK’s peaceful process and nonviolent agrarian struggle, we call on the proper government authorities to (1) investigate the blue guards of KDC who are allegedly accused of violent harassment of the MPK community; and (2) reopen the investigation of the shooting incident on April 19, 2022, that wounded several members of the MPK community. In both cases, we call on the proper authorities to investigate Mr. Pablo Lorenzo III for conflict of interests and obstructing the implementation of IPRA law.
In the name of justice and for the sake of the one thousand suffering families of IP claimants, we call on the NCIP, PNP, AFP and other government agencies to work together for the common good and have the courage to dutifully enforce the IPRA law. Immediately install and secure the MPK community into their ancestral domain!
FOR THE 53rd PRIESTS & CONSECRATED PERSONS ANNUAL ASSEMBLY:
MOST REV. NOEL P. PEDREGOSA, D.D.
Bishop of Malaybalay
November 20, 2024
