Accused in Ati leader’s murder roams despite arrest warrant

ILOILO CITY—Leaders of the Ati tribe in Boracay are calling on President Aquino and law enforcement agencies to help in the arrest of an accused in the killing of the tribe’s spokesperson who has disappeared.

In a manifesto, the nine-member council of elders of the Boracay Ati Tribe Organization also expressed dismay at the failure of police to apprehend Daniel Celestino after a court last week issued an arrest warrant for Celestino for the killing of Dexter Condez, the Ati tribe’s spokesperson.

“Our wait for seven months to find justice has come to nothing. We have been seriously cooperating with the authorities but we are saddened that he was given an opportunity to flee,” said the tribe leaders, led by chieftain Delsa Justo, in the manifesto.

“We do not have money to offer as a reward for his capture. Our tribe will never be at peace if the perpetrators remain free. Is there still justice for us Atis?” the manifesto said.

Judge Domingo Casiple Jr., of the Kalibo Aklan Regional Trial Court Branch 7, issued an arrest warrant on Oct. 1 against Celestino, security guard of the Crown Regency Boracay Resorts hotel chain, who was tagged as the lone gunman in the killing of Condez on Feb. 22.

Operatives of the Boracay Tourist Assistance Center (BTAC), Boracay’s police force, failed to find Celestino when they raided his wife’s house in Malinao town in Aklan on Oct. 2.

Senior Insp. Joeffer Cabural, BTAC chief, said Celestino left the resort two weeks ago and told the resort management that he would return.

Investigators said they believed that Condez was murdered because of disputes over the 2.1-hectare 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.

The tribe members on April 17 last year occupied at least 350 square meters of the property covered by the CADT but at least three claimants questioned the CADT in court. Thirty-two Ati families, or at least 200 tribe members, reside in the community.

Cebu-based property developer J. King and Sons Co. Inc., which owns Crown Regency, is among those with boundary disputes or ownership claims over the land covered by the tribe’s title.

Celestino and his employers have repeatedly denied involvement in the killing of Condez.