Oriental Mindoro’s Mangyan tribe finally gets title to ancestral domain

LAND OWNERS Leaders of the Mangyan tribe in Oriental Mindoro receive their first certificate of ancestral domain title from National Commission on Indigenous Peoples chair Allen Capuyan on Wednesday during a ceremony at the covered court of Pinamalayan town. —PHOTO COURTESY OF NCIP-MIMAROPA

CITY OF CALAPAN—Two communities of the Mangyan tribe in the province of Oriental Mindoro received their certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) for 3,270.78 hectares after 24 years of waiting, officials of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said.

Allen Capuyan, NCIP chair, said the Tadyawan and Tau-buid Mangyan were awarded CADT No. 047 covering land that spans the villages of Sabang in Pinamalayan town and Buong Lupa in Gloria town during a ceremony at Pinamalayan’s covered court on Wednesday.

According to the NCIP, the title was the first CADT ever awarded to the members of the Mangyan communities in this province. CADT is a title formally recognizing the rights of possession and ownership of indigenous peoples (IPs) over their ancestral domains.

After a period of struggle

It was in 1998 when the two Mangyan communities received their certificate of ancestral domain claim (CADC), according to Pren Luarca, a member of the Mangyan Mission (Risen Christ Parish) of the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan.

CADC is certification issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources recognizing the claims of IPs on their ancestral domain, giving them some degree of control over their territories.

The Mangyan tribe obtained the land title “after a period of struggle of [the NCIP] to provide security over ancestral domains of the IP communities,” said Marie Grace Pascua, NCIP director in the Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) region.

She said the CADT was filed with the Registry of Deeds.

“This is the realization of the long-awaited hopes turning into reality through a duly registered CADT, the first title ever to be registered in Oriental Mindoro after 24 years,” she said.

‘Soul of Ipra’

At least 160 members of the Tadyawan and Tau-buid communities witnessed the awarding ceremony, which was also attended by several government officials, the NCIP said. It was not immediately known how many Mangyans belong to the two tribes.

“Let’s continue to secure the [ancestral domain] areas, which [are] the soul of IPRA (Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997),” said Pascua in a statement.

According to the NCIP, the issuance of a CADT would allow indigenous communities the “responsibility to have and to hold in ownership the ancestral domain … as their private but community property which belongs to all generations.”

It said the IPs would be tasked to “develop, control, manage and utilize collectively the ancestral domain with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities.”

But the NCIP noted that the ancestral domain or portions of it should not be sold, disposed of or destroyed. —MADONNA T. VIROLA

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