TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA) — Anytime soon, the ancestral domain claims of 3,193.88 hectares of the Eskaya indigenous people in the mountaintops of Duero, Sierra Bullones, Pilar and Guindulman would be granted, according to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
NCIP Bohol field officer and head Emmylou Gonzaga, speaking during the Kapihan sa PIA commemorating the 27th anniversary of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, said their team have been hearing from non-IP residents within the ancestral domains that the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) which the NCIP is promising would not materialize.
Within the over 3,000 hectares of ancestral domains are double claims.
Already occupying portions of mountains of barangays Taytay in Duero, Lundag in Pilar, Cantaub in Sierra Bullones and their main community in Biabas in Guindulman, the Eskaya handed to the NCIP processing the CAD Claims for the Eskaya in 1996.
Earlier than that, and much later after the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim had been processed, government agencies also granted Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) to some tribe members and even outsiders.
These issued CLOAs are also within the tribal claims, shrinking the ancestral domain areas.
The contested areas with CLOAs and other tenurial instruments given by government agencies are now in heated debates, and the IPs of Taytay, Cantaub, Lundag and BIABAs are calling on the government to suspend the release of such, especially those involving lots within their ancestral domain claims.
“Within the next few months, the title of the claims (Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles-CADT) of the four barangays would soon be released,” assured Gonzaga.
“CADT R-7-014, which contains the claims and the protested parts of it, would be presented by the NCIP en banc,” she added.
To settle the double claims, the NCIP Bohol Field Office head said the CLOAs issued before 1996 to tribe members would be respected, but CLOAs issued in 1997 until recently would not be respected anymore in the CADT.
This means, according to Gonzaga, that after the NCIP got the official acknowledgement of the Eskaya claim in 1996, any more CLOAs issued within the claimed domain are deemed illegal.
With this, the NCIP is now coordinating with the Land Registration Authority and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which also issued other tenurial instruments to tribe members and non-IPs, as well as the Department of Agrarian Reform for the cancellation of the issued CLOAs within the ancestral domains.
Aside from DAR which issued CLOAs to farmers, DENR has also issued leases, permits, agreements, joint venture or production sharing agreements as well as licenses concerning the development, exploration and utilization of the portions of the ancestral claims. (RAHC/PIA-7 Bohol)
