[ Manila Bulletin Online ] November 10, 2008
By BOY RYAN B. ZABAL
BORACAY — Tourism regional director Edwin Trompeta has expressed support for an investigation on the alleged displacement of the Ati tribe in this world-famous resort island as proposed by some party-list lawmakers.
Calls for an investigation on the status of Boracay’s indigenous residents came after the Supreme Court recently upheld the government’s position that Boracay island is rightly classified as a public forest, and as such has to be protected from wanton commercial development.
"The investigation by Congress aims to put the Ati tribe in their rightful place in the social, cultural and economic context of our development as a nation," Trompeta said.
The call for an investigation into the alleged displacement of the Ati tribe is contained in House Resolution No. 829 filed by Bayan Muna Reps. Teodoro Casiño and Satur Ocampo, Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano and Gabriela representatives Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan.
The resolution, Casiño said, tackles the alleged encroachment on Ati’s ancestral domain due to commercialization and the unabated construction of resorts in the island.
"We want that investigation to make sure that given the recent Supreme Court ruling and reports of displacement of Atis, their rights to their ancestral domain are respected and properly exercised.
"More than resort owners, it is the Atis who have prior claim to Boracay," said Casiño in a phone interview.
Benguet Rep. Samuel Dangwa, House committee chairman on national cultural communities, also said he wants to know more of the plight of Ati indigenous families in Barangay Balabag in Malay town, Aklan.
Last month, the Supreme Court affirmed the legality of Proclamation No. 1064 issued by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2006 declaring large parts of Boracay as inalienable and indisposable lands.
"The occupants of Boracay have built multi-million peso beach resorts and the island has already been stripped of its forest cover; that the implementation of Proclamation No. 1064 will destroy the island’s tourism industry does not negate its character as public forest," the High Court said.
"Forest lands are fundamental to our nation’s survival. Their promotion and protection are not just fancy rhetoric for politicians and activists. These are needs that become more urgent as destruction of our environment gets prevalent and difficult to control," the court stressed in a 35-page en banc decision penned by Associate Justice Ruben Reyes.
