Ati folk get writ for Boracay land

KALIBO, Aklan—The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has issued a writ of possession for the Ati tribe on Boracay Island over their ancestral land in the world-famous resort.

The writ, which formally installs the Atis as legitimate owners of the property, was signed Wednesday afternoon by the seven-member commission led by its chair Zenaida Brigada Hamada-Pawid, according to Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, chair of the House committee on national cultural communities.

“(The writ) legalizes the installation of the tribe on their ancestral land,” Baguilat told Inquirer in a telephone interview on Thursday.

Since April 17, the Ati tribe has been occupying parts of a 2.1-hectare property in Barangay Manoc-Manoc covered by a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) issued by the NCIP.

NCIP turned over the CADT on Jan. 21, 2011 to the tribe but issued the writ only yesterday amid other claims being made on the land by other groups and individuals.

The CADT was issued 12 years after the Ati tribe first filed a petition on Feb. 23, 2000 to have legal possession of their ancestral land.

The writ ordered property claimants other than the Ati tribe to stop building structures in the area covered by the CADT, Baguilat said.

But in an earlier interview with Inquirer, Dionesia Banua, NCIP commissioner for island Group and the Visayas, said the writ can only be enforced 15 days after the parties involved in the claims have received a copy of the order.

Property claimant Rudi Banico had questioned the legality of the occupation of the property by the Ati tribe citing a petition for injunction he filed and which is pending at the Kalibo Regional Trial Court.

But the Ati tribe said they had occupied the land covered by the CADT because the claimants had erected structures and subjected parts of the area to quarrying.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo earlier said the Atis would not be removed from the area they occupied as long as no other structures are erected on the land.

Baguilat, who brought a copy of the order to the tribe in Boracay on Thursday, said the government should have the political will to implement the order through its various agencies.

“This has taken a long time to implement and for the writ to come out,” he said.

He said the delay in the CADT approval and the turnover of the property to the Boracay Ati reflected the situation of indigenous communities in the country.

“This case drew a lot of attention but many IP communities remain marginalized and do not even have a CADT for their ancestral lands,” Baguilat said.