Ati leader in Boracay gunned down
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
The three Ati tribal leaders of Boracay Island just came from a meeting with nuns about 9 p.m. on Friday to prepare for Mass on Sunday and discuss the beautification of their community.
The three Ati tribal leaders of Boracay Island just came from a meeting with nuns about 9 p.m. on Friday to prepare for Mass on Sunday and discuss the beautification of their community.
Sen. Edgardo Angara believes the proposed Aurora Pacific Ecozone and Freeport Authority (Apeco) has taken on a regional strategic value following China’s recent announcement of new rules banning foreign vessels from waters it considers its territory in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
The chair of the House committee on national cultural communities is urging President Benigno Aquino to address the spate of killings of indigenous community leaders, many of whom have ties to anti-mining lobbies.
The young son of a Subanen tribal chieftain was killed Tuesday morning in an alleged ambush by gunmen targeting his father, who has been leading the campaign to protect his tribe’s ancestral domain rights in Zamboanga del Sur.
Soldiers and policemen on Wednesday launched a manhunt for armed members of a tribal group who are trying to prevent one of the world’s largest mining companies from setting foot on what tribal leaders said is land that is part of their ancestral domain.
Fear continues to hound lumad (indigenous) residents of Barangay Dao in San Fernando, Bukidnon, who have been living away from their homes for more than four months now.
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on Thursday expressed support for the Ati tribe’s habitation of their ancestral land in Boracay, rallying the locals and tourists to help them reclaim a portion of their “lost paradise.”
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) voiced support Thursday for the Ati tribe’s occupation of a piece of land on Boracay Island, rallying the locals and tourists to help the tribespeople reclaim a portion of their “lost paradise.”
The Ati tribe on Boracay Island will not be removed from the ancestral land that they occupied on Tuesday even without a writ of possession, according to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.
Around 60 members of the Ati tribe in Boracay along with their supporters, including Roman Catholic nuns, occupied a 2.1-hectare property on the island that is being claimed by various groups although it is covered by a Certificate of Ancestral Domain.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has asked the Philippine government to freeze all gas and oil bidding contracts in areas claimed by the Moro people as their ancestral domain.
The ancestral domain title issued to a whole village inside Camp John Hay and other land titles owned by residents near the reservation have become a legal quandary for the government firm tasked to segregate 13 barangays (villages) from the former American rest and recreation area.
After more than 10 years of struggle to obtain social justice and recognition of their rights, Aetas in an upland community in Bataan fear that their battle to get titles for their ancestral lands may yet amount to nothing, a tribal elder said.
