The Manobo-Pulangiyon Kiantig (MPK) is an indigenous cultural community in Quezon, Bukidnon whose ancestors lived in a 1000-hectare property since before the Spanish occupation in the 1500s. Within the area are several landmarks significant to their culture: the Salagapon Falls which is their ritual area; Banban, their sacred burial place; and Karikayanan their source of root foods and herbal plants, serving as their hunting and fishing grounds. 

In 1986, MPK’s ancestral land was placed under the control of Kiantig Development Corporation (KDC) by the Department of Natural Resources through an agreement. In 1998, following the passage of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, the community immediately filed for their Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).  

Their filing was met with inaction from the NCIP, and violence and fear-mongering by the KDC. The corporation slowly pushed the community off their ancestral land year after year until families were completely driven from their home near the banks of the Pulangi River. Many members were forced to move across different provinces but over a hundred—including tribal leaders, women and children—continue to live in community-built homes on the side of a highway, as near as they can get to their ancestral land.  

Living conditions for the MPK community have continued to deteriorate since; there is a lack of access to consistent food supply and clean water, and concerns over the safety of children. The lands available are not conducive to farming, and the water accessible to them is unsanitary resulting in cases of tribe members, especially children, getting sick. Children are also vulnerable to traffic accidents; at least 5 children have been hit by passing cars. Triba leaders continues to endure threats and intimidation from the occupying corporation. 

For 28 years, the Manobo-Pulangiyon did the groundwork to initiate procedures to gain legal recognition of their ancestral domain. They submitted every requirement, followed every procedure. The NCIP had granted MPK legal ownership of their ancestral land through a CADT in 2023. But the commission’s refusal to issue an order for the community’s safe return to their home keeps them displaced, dispossessed, and in danger to this day.