More cops to protect Boracay tribe

BORACAY ISLAND, Philippines—A year after the killing of its spokesperson, the Ati tribe of Boracay Island, the country’s top tourist destination, continues to seek justice even as it faces constant threats over the property granted to them by the government.

“We are saddened and angry that after a year, Dexter [Condez] has not been given justice despite the assurances of the government,” said Evangelin Tamboon, a member of the Bato council of leaders.

Tamboon said the indigenous people would remain fearful for their lives as long as those behind Condez’s death are not arrested and punished.

Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II on Friday ordered policemen to arrest anyone who would trespass  the 2.1-hectare property awarded to the Ati.

“They (claimants) should respect the ancestral domain titles given by the government to our Ati brothers,” Roxas said during his visit to the Ati community in Manoc-Manoc village on Boracay Island.

The pledge of protection came a week after the first death anniversary of Condez, 26, the most vocal and visible figure in the Ati struggle to have a land of their own in Boracay, which is considered their ancestral land.

Condez was walking home with two female tribe leaders on the evening of Feb. 22, 2013, when a lone assailant shot him several times in Manoc-Manoc.

Still at large

A suspect, Daniel Celestino, a security guard, remains at large despite the issuance of an arrest warrant against him by the Kalibo Regional Trial Court.

Investigators believe Condez was murdered because of disputes over the 2.1-ha beachfront property that was awarded to the tribe by the government in 2011 through a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

Celestino is a security guard of Crown Regency Boracay Resorts, a hotel chain owned by the Cebu-based property developer J. King and Sons Co. Inc. The firm is among those with boundary disputes or ownership claims over the CADT-covered land of the tribe.

The guard and his employers have repeatedly denied involvement in the killing of Condez, claiming he was at the hotel premises when it happened.

Fences

On April 17, 2012, the tribe members occupied around 350 square meters of the property covered by the CADT. Thirty-two Ati families or around 200 people have been residing in the community since.

At least three claimants have questioned the CADT in the court and have repeatedly built fences, including those covered by the title. The NCIP has ordered the removal of the fences encroaching on the Ati property and asked for more policemen to secure the area.

Roxas said more policemen had been assigned to the community to “make sure that the property of the Ati tribe will not be taken from them.”

According to Senior Inspector Mark Evan Salvo, island police chief, said 78 policemen had been fielded to protect the village ’round the clock. Thirty-eight of them are from the Aklan Provincial Public Safety Company and 40 from the Boracay Tourist Action Center. With a report from Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Inquirer Visayas