Ati tribe's fight continues

CEBU, Philippines – It looked like the fight of the Ati tribe in Boracay over their “ancestral domain” is far from over. Even with the awarding of 2.1 hectares in Boracay Island to families belonging to the Boracay Ati Tribal Organization, settlement issues continued to hound the indigenous groups.

On Friday, a dialogue was called on by legal counsels of lot owner Ulysses Rudi Banico that would have supposedly involved other lot owners Gregorio Sanson and hiers of Lucas Gelito, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer of Aklan, representatives from the National Commission in Indigenous Peoples, leaders of BATO, the parish priest, and members of religious orders.

But only lawyers Augusto Macam and Leopoldo Gangoso, Jr., representing Banico, and Jonne Adaniel, head executive assistant of PENRO-AKlan, appeared for the dialogue.

Macam said the dialogue tackled their request for a re-survey of the area covered by the BATO's certificate of ancestral domain title, following claims that the Ati settlers had gone beyond the 2.1 hectares of land awarded to them.

“They apparently went beyond the CADT. So, the dialogue was intended for a re-survey to establish the correct and real settlement of the Ati community,” Macam said, adding that the three other lot owners also questioned in court the land awarded to the Ati community.

While legal issues about CADT was still going on, Gangoso said the Ati settlers should be restricted from doing more construction and expansion beyond the "awarded" lot. “Maybe, they thought that other areas were also part of the CADT because no one explained to them the boundary," he said.

There were also efforts to coordinate with BATO members and the religious sector, particularly the nuns who were voicing out their support to the indigenous people, but they declined to attend the dialogue, as advised by their lawyer.

However, even without the BATO members, Adaniel said they could proceed with the re-survey only if NCIP gave its go signal for it. “The area was already awarded with a CADT. It is to be understood that the NCIP has control over the area based on the CADT issuance,” he said.

Banico's representatives and Adaniel said they might re-schedule the dialogue to a time when a representative of the NCIP would be available. It can be recalled that the settlement of the Ati community, over what they called their “ancestral domain” in Boracay, has been marred with violence.

On February 2013, Dexter Condez, community leader of BATO, was gunned down. On March 2014, police arrested Daniel Celestino, a resident of Brgy. Manoc-Manoc of Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan, for Condez's death. Celestino was reportedly a security guard working at the Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center but the company denied it had anything to do with the incident.

Despite Condez's death, armed security guards allegedly employed by the lot owners torn down the perimeter fence set up by the community. This prompted the police to augment its force in the area to prevent possible violent acts between the armed men and the Ati settlers.

On July 2013, the NCIP issued a writ of execution that affirmed the right of the Ati community to their ancestral domain. But groups that also claimed ownership of the land had opposed to this.