From the Pax Silica Hub in New Clark City to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement site in Balabac, Palawan, Indigenous Peoples are being evicted from their ancestral domains as the Marcos Jr government continues to facilitate the intensified sell-out of our lands and resources to US imperialism.
A fact-finding team organized by Southern Tagalog-based people’s organizations and media groups reported that construction of the 300-hectare EDCA air base in Balabac has encroached on the ancestral lands and waters of the Molbog Indigenous Peoples. The base building was allowed to continue despite the opposition of the local community.
Balabac is among the four new EDCA sites approved by Marcos in 2023. Strategically located in southern Palawan near north Borneo, the Balabac EDCA boosts US military presence and operationalizes its First island Chain strategy. According to the base development plan, 45 facilities will rise on the island which will be used by the US military to deploy troops, weapons, and conduct war exercises. Similar to other EDCA sites, Balabac will be operated as a de facto US military base that can be a staging ground for US military projection and war preparation. This undermines national security and endangers the local population.
Molbog elders have raised concern about the disruption caused by this year’s Balikatan exercises which were held on the island without consulting the local community. They also condemned the use of the national greening program to threaten the displacement of local villagers.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan holds the puppet and corrupt Marcos Jr government accountable for the conversion of Balabac into a forward deployed base of the US military, the landgrabbing on the island, the state-sponsored attacks targeting Indigenous leaders and those opposed to EDCA, and the treasonous sell-out of our patrimony to local and foreign plunderers.
The situation in Balabac mirrors the experience of Indigenous Peoples in other provinces and regions gravely affected by large-scale extractive projects and US-led military operations.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan stands in solidarity with local residents and people’s organizations which are exposing and bravely resisting the entry of destructive companies and the expansion of US military presence.
Bayan calls for more solidarity visits in areas like Balabac and Capas where Indigenous Peoples are actively leading the opposition to Pax Silica and EDCA.
Plunder and war-mongering will intensify as Marcos continues to collude with the US in turning the country into an extension of the US military network. The visit of Donald Trump in November will formalize the signing of an onerous framework agreement that enables greater exploitation of Philippine resources. Bayan calls for protests to oppose this, and to drumbeat the message that a war criminal like Trump is not welcome in the Philippines.
Defend Logta Molbog!
Defend Palawan!
Shut down Pax Silica!
Junk EDCA!
Imperyalismo, ibagsak!