After 13 years, Pampanga Aetas get title to ancestral domain

PROUD LAND OWNERS | Aetas in Porac, Pampanga, wear their tribal attire “lubay” as they receive their certificate of ancestral domain title covering 18,660 hectares in Angeles City and Floridablanca town in Pampanga, and San Marcelino town in Zambales. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

PORAC, Pampanga, Philippines — Wearing their traditional attire, members of at least 848 Aeta families received on Tuesday their certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) for more than 18,660 hectares, the second CADT to be given in Central Luzon under President Rodrigo Duterte.

Allen Capuyan, chair of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), handed CADT No. 123 to Ayta Mag-indi and Ayta Mag-antsi leaders here, at least 13 years after the agency approved it in 2009.

The CADT came in the form of an original certificate of title and was filed with the Register of Deeds, Capuyan told the Inquirer.

Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Vice Gov. Lilia Pineda witnessed the distribution of CADT at Villa Maria covered court here.

Gov. Dennis Pineda convinced the tribal leaders to resume dialogues and planning to hasten the process of obtaining the CADT to recognize native rights over ancestral domains.

The area spans the villages of Camias, Diaz, Inararo, Villa Maria and Sapang Uwak in Porac; Sapang Bato in Angeles City; portions of Floridablanca town, also in Pampanga; and San Marcelino town in Zambales province, the NCIP records showed.

Responsibility

The region’s first CADT distributed under Mr. Duterte was for the Dumagat tribe in Gabaldon town, Nueva Ecija province, in December 2021.This brought to eight the total number of registered CADTs all over Central Luzon.

Nine CADTs are in the process of registration, eight are under continuing appropriation, and 19 more ancestral domains have standing applications.

In a statement, the NCIP said the issuance of a CADT gave 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.”

“They shall develop, control, manage and utilize collectively the ancestral domain with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities subject to the condition that the said ancestral domain or portions thereof shall not be sold, disposed of, or destroyed,” it added.

—TONETTE OREJAS

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