Ati folk decry clash with firm’s guards

ATI TRIBE members in Boracay in April erect a fence around a parcel of land that was titled to them. NESTOR P. BURGOS/INQUIRER VISAYAS

ILOILO CITY – Armed security guards of a hotel chain operator destroyed parts of a perimeter fence of the Ati community on Boracay Island on Sunday over property boundary disputes, police said.

Armed with shotguns and hand guns, at least 20 security guards of the Cebu-based J. King and Sons Co. Inc. went to the Ati community along the beach in Barangay Manoc-Manoc on Sunday and confronted the tribe members for allegedly encroaching on a parcel of land being claimed by the company, said Senior Inspector Joeffer Cabural, chief of the Boracay Tourist Assistance Center, the island’s police force.

No one was hurt in the standoff but Ati tribe members said they were terrified.

“We were scared because they came in three vehicles with guns last night. There were children in our community who were terrified,” said Dexter Condez, spokesman of Boracay Ati Tribal Organization (Bato).

Condez said Teddy Jimenez, resident manager of the Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center, and the armed security guards arrived around 7 p.m. The tribe members tried to negotiate with the guards to stop them from destroying the fence, said Condez.

“We appealed to them to return the next day because it was already dark and they were all armed. But they insisted on dismantling the fence,” Condez said.

Cabural said the guards destroyed a 10-meter portion of the bamboo fence while Condez said the destroyed portion reached 25 meters. Policemen arrived after the fence had been destroyed.

Jimenez said the guards were just protecting the property of J. King and Sons Co. Inc. against the alleged intrusion of the Ati community.

“The guards were armed to protect themselves. They had no intention to harm anyone,” Jimenez said.

He said the Ati community had erected the fence without a permit.

“We asked them (Ati community) to remove the fence themselves but they refused so we had to dismantle it,” Jimenez said.

The J. King and Sons Co. Inc. operates three hotels on the 1,032-hectare Boracay Island, including the Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center.