ATI people protest at the provincial office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Kalibo, Aklan on March 16. (Ro Sueo Pub)
ILOILO CITY – The Ati indigenous people (IPs) urged President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to return the land given by the government two years after they were evicted at world-famous Boracay Island in Malay town, Aklan province.
Members of the Asosasyon ng Boracay Ati Tribal Organization (ABATO) held a protest outside the Aklan provincial office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Kalibo town on Monday, March 16, asking the Marcos administration to give back the land awarded by the Duterte administration.
President Rodrigo Duterte announced in 2018 that Ati people will be given Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) to enable them to have a farm as part of the massive rehabilitation of the country’s most popular destination.
But in March 2024, DAR-Western Visayas office revoked the CLOAs after soil analysis found out that the land is not suitable for farming following a petition filed by one of the private land claimants against the document.
The private land claimant barricaded portions of the 1,282-square meter land where some of the Ati people resided after they were issued CLOAs.
The Ati people have also been repeatedly barred from entering the disputed property by guards of the private land claimants.
Their placards expressed hope that the Marcos administration would reconsider the decision.
The Ati people have been subjected to various eviction by private land owners and developers in Boracay because they are eyesores.
In 2013, Ati leader Dexter Condez was shot and killed by a private security guard hired by a private land claimant who had a dispute with the Ati people over a 2.1-hectare of land.