House reviews Aeta, Clark land dispute
By Tonette Orejas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:46:00 12/02/2008
Filed Under: indigenous people, Regional authorities
CLARK FREEPORT – The dispute between Aetas and the state-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC) over 10,684 hectares of land within this free port’s Sacobia subzone has reached Congress.
The House committee on national cultural communities has sought a review of terms and a win-win solution in the 10-year-old row that arose from conflicting laws.
Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa, the committee chair, ended the hearing on Thursday here with a plan to review the terms in the joint management agreement (JMA) signed by the CDC, Tribong Ayta and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples on Dec. 6, 2007.
The property, which is smack in the middle of the 27,600-hectare subzone and 4,400-hectare main zone of Clark, is covered by Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) No. RO3-BAM-1104-025.
Dangwa said the lack of participation by the local governments and the 80-20 percent sharing scheme between the CDC and the Aeta, respectively, required a restudy.
Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla opted for a win-win solution so the CDC and the Aeta could live in peaceful and beneficial co-existence.
Congress, through the Bases Conversion Law of 1991 (Republic Act 7227), asked the CDC to convert and develop the former Clark Air Base of the United States into an economic zone. The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (Republic Act 8371) promoted and protected the rights of indigenous communities.
In the hearing called by Pampanga Rep. Carmelo Lazatin and Tarlac Rep. Jeci Lapus, CDC president Benigno Ricafort agreed to have the JMA reviewed “with the best interests of both parties in mind.”
Ricafort disagreed with the proposal to scrap the JMA, saying it was basically a conflict resolution scheme.
NCIP Commissioner Rolando Rivera took the same stance, saying the development of Clark and the Aeta went hand-in-hand.
Past CDC administrations fought to reduce the CADT area to retain more lands for economic development. Ricafort’s immediate predecessor, Levy Laus, instead involved the Aeta to draw up a joint management plan.
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