Statement of Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment on the Threatened Eviction of the Tagbanua Community Under the Pretext of Protected Area Conservation
Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment stands in solidarity with the Tagbanua people as they defend their ancestral lands against the planned demolition and forced eviction of their community in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
On July 22, the city local government of Puerto Princesa under Mayor Lucilo Bayron issued Memorandum Order No. 315, mandating the demolition of the residential community of Tagbanua indigenous group, displacing them from their ancestral lands in Barangay Irawan on July 30.
The demolition order, which targets the homes and other structures of the Tagbanua community, rests on the baseless accusation that they are responsible for the destruction of forest cover and the illegal occupation of the Palawan Flora, Fauna, and Watershed Reserve. This narrative deliberately erases the truth that long before the establishment of government reservations and protected area boundaries, the Tagbanua had already lived in and cared for these lands as their ancestral domain. Their rights are recognized under the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) and the Cariño Doctrine, which affirm native title based on long-standing possession and customary law. Yet these legal protections have once again been cast aside without genuine consultation or the free, prior, and informed consent of the affected community.
The response of state institutions has likewise fallen short of protecting the Tagbanua people’s rights, as the Commission on Human Rights MIMAROPA called for the temporary suspension of the demolition, and the provincial National Commission on Indigenous Peoples urged the city government to exercise “due care and prudence” in implementing the order. These measures merely delay, rather than prevent, the violation of the community’s collective rights, as temporary reprieve does not remove the looming threat of eviction. Exercising “prudence” in carrying out displacement does not make displacement any less unjust.
The government’s selective enforcement of environmental protection further exposes the hypocrisy behind this demolition order. While the Tagbanua are accused of degrading the environment, the state continues to approve large-scale extractive projects that inflict far greater and irreversible ecological destruction. In Palawan itself, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources authorized the Berong Nickel Project to cut down more than 218,000 trees— posing a far greater threat to the province’s forests and biodiversity than the continued presence of an indigenous community that has protected these lands for generations.
It is very apparent that the struggle for environmental protection is bound up with the struggle for Indigenous Peoples’ rights. No preservation would take place while ancestral domains are seized, indigenous communities are displaced, and their rights are subordinated to state interests and corporate exploitation.
We call for the immediate revocation of Memorandum Order No. 315, the permanent halt to any demolition or forced eviction of the Tagbanua community, and the full recognition and protection of their ancestral land rights. We likewise demand that government agencies fulfill their mandate not by facilitating the displacement of Indigenous Peoples, but by defending their rights and holding destructive commercial projects accountable for the real threats they pose to Palawan’s environment.
Defending the environment means defending those who have protected it the longest. Any conservation policy that tramples upon Indigenous Peoples’ rights is not protecting the environment, but a blatant commission of injustice to it.
Lupang ninuno, depensahan, ipaglaban!
