The Catholic Church in Malaybalay in the southern Philippine province of Bukidnon condemned the ongoing injustices against the Manobo-Pulangiyon Kianteg (MPK) community, who have long struggled to reclaim their ancestral lands.

In a pastoral statement issued during the 53rd Priests and Consecrated Persons Annual Assembly, 134 priests and consecrated persons expressed solidarity with the Indigenous community. 

“As members of the Church, we reaffirm our mission ‘to defend the rights of the Indigenous people, guarding them against violators,’” the pastoral statement declared.

The MPK community, consisting of about 1,000 families, has been fighting for the return of 1,111 hectares of ancestral land in the villages of San Jose and Butong in Quezon town, Bukidnon. 

According to the pastoral statement, the land was originally “borrowed” in 1921 by Bukidnon’s first governor, Don Manolo Fortich, under a verbal agreement that was never honored. Instead, the land was converted into a cattle ranch.

Subsequent developments saw the land leased to Kianteg Development Corporation (KDC) until 2018. Despite the lease’s expiration, the Indigenous community reported continued illegal occupation by KDC and other entities under the leadership of Pablo Lorenzo III, KDC’s president and chairman.

The pastoral statement detailed the violence and hardships faced by the MPK, including the assassination of tribal leader Datu Renato Anglao in 2017 and harassment by armed security forces. 

Many community members live in extreme poverty, surviving on scraps and enduring malnutrition and disease.

“They are living in so much hunger and poverty, eating only kamote (sweet potato) once a day or nothing at all, and the children are all malnourished,” the statement read.

While commending the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for issuing a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) to the MPK in 2023, the Diocese criticized the agency for failing to support the community’s peaceful reclamation attempt on Oct. 21, 2024.

“The PNP also coercively stopped us at the checkpoint and blocked the road leading to the Indigenous community without any valid reason,” testified one bishop who joined the community during the attempted reclamation.

The Diocese expressed frustration over NCIP regional officers’ insistence that the MPK needed a Supreme Court order to reclaim their land, calling such claims baseless under the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997.

Reaffirming the Church’s mission to defend the rights of indigenous peoples, the Diocese pledged to support the MPK’s struggle for justice. 

They called for investigations into violent incidents involving KDC security forces and the reopening of a 2022 shooting case that left MPK members injured.

The Diocese also emphasized the sacred connection between Indigenous peoples and their ancestral lands, echoing Pope Francis’s call in Laudato Si’ for justice and ecological care. 

“A concrete way to defend the Indigenous people is to join them in their struggle for agrarian justice,” the statement added.

“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,” the clergy urged.