By Francessca Abalos
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – “Gratitude” is a word that Molbog youth leader Angelica Nasiron, 27, constantly uses when talking about the student movement Ateneo Para sa Bugsuk (APARSUK) and its co-head, 21, Angel Rose Sarmiento.

Amid harassment over San Miguel Corporation (SMC)’s attempts to displace the community, Nasiron said her fellow indigenous residents of Sitio Marihangin in Palawan’s Bugsuk Island remain thankful for the support of APARSUK. The knowledge that Sarmiento and APARSUK are present strengthens their resolve to fight for their land and the truth. 

It is a tiring battle for the community, where they saw little to no assistance from local government authorities, according to both Nasiron and Sarmiento. 

However, June 13, 2024 changed the tides of Sitio Marihangin’s fight. It was the first time the two Angels – Angel Rose and Angelica and their communities met, and the struggle of the Bugsuk tribe has since bonded them. 

Hope for intercession

While Nasiron had been prepared for this meeting, it took Sarmiento entirely by surprise. For the young Political Science major, she had been made to attend by the university’s Office of Social Concern and Involvement. 

Sarmiento described that day as life-changing. She was moved to action by Nasiron and other Molbog residents’ recounting Of the Bugsuk story: A 50-year struggle to keep their lands where generations have lived and died. 

“The sheer length and the sheer dedication of the people for their land. This is where you truly feel that they [the residents of Sitio Marihangin] are not joking around when they say, ‘We will die here,’” Sarmiento emphasized in a mix of English and Tagalog.

Ever since then, APARSUK has become a pillar for Sitio Marihangin’s fight to be heard and seen. It is part of the Sambilog – Balik Bugsok movement, which campaigns for the government to return the 10,821 hectares of land taken from Molbog residents under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Also recently added the granting of the residents’ Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title application for 56,000 hectares of land to its roster. 

Under Sarmiento’s guiding hand, APARSUK works with Sambilog to arrange room-to-room discussions, mobilizations, and even a hunger strike for Sitio Marihangin. More recently, they assisted the community in filing an injunction case against armed JMV Security Service guards hired by Bricktree Properties—an SMC subsidiary.

“The things APARSUK has done to aid our campaign have been such a great help to our campaign. This is where it started. Before, only a few knew about our issue, but now many people in Ateneo know about it,” Nasiron said in Tagalog. Even as the community still fights for visibility, APARSUK and Sarmiento have given them hope.

Granting supplication

It is why APARSUK has become more than just a campaign or advocacy to Sarmiento. The Molbog residents are good friends, who she messages to ask about their day, share jokes, and just check on. 

“It is a happy time, especially when we’re with Angel. Her joy is overwhelming, when you’re with her it’s really like you’re coming alive. Even if you’re so tired that your exhaustion is all you can think about,” Nasiron noted in Tagalog. 

Just a few encouraging words from Sarmiento enlivens Nasiron and her community, and helps them to not lose faith in their fight. 

The effect is ten-fold when Sarmiento visits the island, a place she describes as “so beautiful, and… has so many lobsters.” 

Sarmiento and the Sitio Marihangin community’s close relationship has transformed APARSUK into an act of love. One that is deeply connected to Sarmiento’s faith in God, something she emphasized is part of her education in ADMU. “It’s something you hold so close to your heart. It started like that and as the months went on really it just kept growing. This strong anchor that requires your faith,” she said in Tagalog.

It is impossible to disentangle her religion from her activism because they depend on each other. She cannot be silent when people, all created in the image and likeness of God, are being abused. 

Bouts of confession

Yet, this closeness also makes SMC and its alleged affiliates’ abuses against Sitio Marihangin so much heavier for everyone, physically and emotionally. 

Over the course of a year, the situation of indigenous residents of Sitio Marihangin in Palawan’s Bugsuk Island has remained precarious. The presence of “blue guards,” armed security guards from JMV Security Service tied to San Miguel Corporation (SMC) through its subsidiary Bricktree Properties, is a recent example. 

According to Nasiron, residents are unable to properly earn income through seaweed farming and fishing, eat, or sleep because they hold 24/7 vigils to prevent the “blue guards’ from entering their land. Many have almost fallen ill because of the rainy weather that now marks each day.

They live in constant fear of being stormed by “blue guards,” a repeat of the April 4 invasion. Sarmiento mentioned that APARSUK had to act quickly at the time. They organized a prayer vigil at the ADMU’s Zen Garden on the same day, while also releasing a statement condemning the deployment. It took five people working simultaneously on a Google Document to finish the write up. 

Whenever incidents like these plague Nasiron and her community, Sarmiento is one of the first people they inform. She is always glad to help, but instances like these are emotionally draining since she needs to balance her own feelings with a deluge of APARSUK tasks. 

However, what impacts Sarmiento most about days like those are that they show her firsthand the fear of knowing her friends might be killed. 

Heartfelt prayers 

It is why Sarmiento believes APARSUK has aged her, yet she refuses to linger on her exhaustion and frustrations. 

After all, Nasiron and the Sitio Marihangin community focus on the good things APARSUK and Sarmiento have brought them rather than the unfairness of their situation. 

“At the other side of the harassment we experience in our home, we still have people who continue to support and listen to our issue, telling us not to give up. It is one of the things that really gives us motivation,” Nasiron highlighted. 

The Molbog residents’ tenderness has, in turn, made Sarmiento kinder, even to those they fights against. “I still pray for them [the companies and people who do not stand with Bugsuk]. Since all people are created good,” she confided. 

More than anything, she wants to convince SMC and its allies to right their wrongs by showcasing APARSUK’s and the Molbog residents’ efforts. 

All because she wants them to finally learn what she and Nasiron have always known: The humanity of the Bugsuk story. (AMU, RVO)