All Eyes On Mindoro. Defend The Mangyan People’s Rights. Uphold International Humanitarian Law

The International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination & Liberation urges the Philippine government to immediately halt all military operations in Mindoro, Philippines, let the Indigenous Mangyan be with their ancestral land, and allow humanitarian teams to carry out their work free from harassment and intimidation.

Mindoro, home to the Indigenous Mangyan, is an island province in the Philippines. Since last week, Mindoro has rapidly become a hotbed of state terror amidst stacks of IHL (International Humanitarian Law) violations committed by the Philippine military.

In February 19, following an encounter between government troops and communist rebels, the 76th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA) launched a series of aerial strafing and aerial artillery operations in the island. Two days later the military forcibly evacuated residents of a village in Pola, Oriental Mindoro to a neighboring village, signaling a continuation of the air strikes and violence unleashed by the government troops.

According to reports from locals the military has also imposed an economic lockdown and food blockade, checkpoints have also been set up by the military. Indigenous peoples are now in fear with soldiers flooding their communities, and have been making rounds 24/7.

These reckless operations are clear violations of IHL. Earlier incidents in the island shows that the Philippine Army has no regard for the lives of Indigenous Peoples as these air strikes have no clear targets, basically carpet bombing large portions of the island regardless if there are civilians in these areas.

Facts on the table, there is much reason to believe that these counterinsurgency operations are indeed clearing operations to pave the way for more plunder, exploitation, and land grabs. As part of the government’s push to implement the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), energy projects, extractivism, and eco-tourism are being pegged as beneficial for the economy and welfare of Indigenous Peoples. In reality these very projects are being lined up without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the Mangyans and are now showing its true colors through the violent repression and forced displacement of Indigenous Peoples.

When Indigenous Peoples organize themselves, voice out, and oppose efforts to displace them, they are met with more violence, tagged as terrorists, and worse killed. Just last year church youth, and Indigenous Mangyan Jay-El Maligday was brutally murdered by government troops and was conveniently passed off as a communist rebel.

IPMSDL calls on our network of Indigenous Peoples organizations, leaders, activists, and advocates to voice out our collective demand for justice, accountability, and peace. Call for the immediate pulling out of state troops in Mindoro, affirm support for activists and human rights workers conducting a fact-finding mission in the island and demand their safety from harassment, intimidation, and other forms of violence, support the call to defend the Mangyan people’s right to their ancestral lands and to live free from dispossession, land-grabbing, and violence.

Defend the Mangyan People’s Rights!
Defend Mindoro!
Defend Ancestral Lands!
Uphold International Humanitarian Law!#

Reference:
International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination & Liberation

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