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Kalibo bishop backs Ati natives' bid to reclaim Boracay land

Philippines | Visayas

Kalibo bishop backs Ati natives' bid to reclaim Boracay land

By Tara Yap

ATI People in Boracay. (Ati Boracay Facebook page)

ATI People in Boracay. (Ati Boracay Facebook page)

ILOILO CITY – Kalibo Bishop Cyril Buhayan Villareal backed the native Ati people in their fight to reclaim land in world-famous Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan.

In a report by CBCP News, the newly-ordained bishop of the Diocese of Kalibo maintained that the Catholic Church must defend the rights of the Ati Indigenous Peoples (IPs).

The Church, through nuns from the Daughters of Charity, have been supporting the Ati people in their campaign.

Last April, they accompanied the Asosasyon ng Boracay Ati Tribal Organization (ABATO) in filing a case against a private land developer for allegedly evicting them from land given to them by the Duterte administration in 2018.

The Ati people were evicted by private land claimants in 2024 following the decision of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Western Visayas office to revoke the land awarded by the government when soil analysis found it was not suitable for farming.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte awarded

Ati people land for farming in 2018 as part of his administration’s massive rehabilitation of Boracay.

They urged President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to allow them to regain their land.

Related Tags

Boracay Ati people Bishop Cyril Villareal

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