CITY OF CALAPAN – Librada “Badang” Isidro has had the rare opportunity of meeting President Macapagal-Arroyo twice.

The 44-year-old mother of five and leader of the Alangan Mangyan in Naujan town at the foot of Mount Halcon in Oriental Mindoro had to struggle with her shyness when she first met the President in Malacañang on Oct. 8.

“I just thought of the urgency of our problems with land. I thought of her as our mother, a mother of the poor indigenous peoples,” Isidro said. She serves the indigenous people through her work for the Mangyan Mission, a Church-based nongovernment organization.

Isidro’s second encounter with Ms Arroyo was during the Local Peace and Security Assembly for Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan at Filipiniana Hotel in Calapan City on Oct. 16. The gathering was part of the national government’s response to the clamor of local governments and various stakeholders for support to their peace-building initiatives.

Taking advantage of the President’s presence, more than 5,500 antimining leaders and advocates formed a human chain along J.P. Rizal Street to dramatize their plea for action against large-scale mining that, they said, encroached on Mangyan ancestral land.

Many of them had marched more than 400 kilometers from their villages to the different towns to be at the capitol during the presidential visit.

A position paper presented by the clergy and leaders of people’s organizations expressed concern over the continued exploration for nickel by Intex Resources and Aglubang Mining.

Titles

Isidro was pleased when she met with the President the second time. She brought up the problems about her people’s certificates of ancestral domain titles (CADTs) and expected that the documents were forthcoming during the visit.

No titles were awarded, however, but Isidro said she “was happy that the President listened to us and ordered her officers to speed up the processing of the titles.”

She was made to understand that the awarding of CADTs to the Tadyawan Mangyan would come four days later, in Occidental Mindoro. The titles would mean land ownership for a people not used to legal documents covering ancestral land that they had long supposed to be communally owned.

The CADT is issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). It completes the tribal group’s legal claim to its territory and gives it practically the same rights as those enjoyed by private property owners.

Frustrating

NCIP provincial officer Rey Luna, however, clarified that the certificate of ancestral domain claim (CADC) is only a formal recognition of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

With the passage of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act in 1997, ancestral domain claims not certified by the DENR are now qualified for direct application to a CADT.

Early in November, Ponyong Kadlos, an Alangan Mangyan and coordinator of the Kapulungan para sa Lupaing Ninuno, a tribal association in Oriental Mindoro, could only describe as frustrating the process of securing the CADTs that the President promised to give them during her Oct. 16 visit.

The Tadyawan Mangyan in Pinamalayan and Gloria towns now await the titles for about 4,500 hectares of land that will benefit more than 1,000 people, Kadlos said. Their CADTs would mean the culmination of more than five years of application process.

In this area, the Mangyan saw boundary landmarks being pulled out by some Tagalogs, “maybe due to dislike or ignorance of our rights,” he explained.

Lack of certification

Asked why there were no land titles yet, Luna said the certifications from the Land Registration Authority and the DENR have not yet been completed.

On Nov. 18, the Department of Agrarian Reform submitted its certification to the NCIP. Salome del Villa, DAR chief of operations, said her office found 21 landholdings (279 has) in Pinamalayan and Gloria covered by certificates of land ownership award (Cloas) which were issued to beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

“There could be more claims against the CADCs. It’s now up to the NCIP to act on the conflict,” De Villa said.

Her concern should not be a problem, Luna said, because Ipra recognizes the previously issued property rights before their effectivity.

Asked when the Mangyan people could finally possess their CADTs, Luna reiterated that it depended on their compliance with registration requirements, particularly from the DENR. “Maybe early December,” he said.

Despite her tussles with the mining firms and the longer trek toward the ancestral titles, Isidro said she was glad she had taken this road.

“What keeps my courage despite the threats on my life is when the President said in Malacañang that she loved us, the reason for her promoting the Ipra.”

In The Know

There are seven CADCs for conversion to CADTs in Oriental Mindoro, covering more than 160,000 hectares of land:

94,022.54 has (Bangon tribe)

16,000 has (Tadyawan)

21,000 (Taubuhid)

39,537 (Alangan)

33,334 (Iraya)

There are two direct applications to CADT covering more than 41,000 has.:

32,181 has (Hanunuo)

9,000 has (Bangon, excluding those by the Tadyawan who are being assisted by the Mangyan Tribal Churches Association.)

Expected beneficiaries for both pending CADCs for CADT conversion and direct application to CADTs are more than 32,000 Mangyan.

One title covering 5,701 has in Puerto Galera was awarded in 2004.