In response to DAILY TRIBUNE's report on the displacement of Ati Tribe members following the cancellation of their collective Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA), Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III announced on Thursday that he has initiated the allocation of government-owned land (GOL) to 44 Ati individuals from Boracay.

Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Napoleon U. Galit, in a DAR statement, said that Estrella immediately issued the directive following the reclaiming of a 1,282 square-meter land by its owners on 26 March, which the members of the Boracay Ati Tribal Association had been occupying.

Galit said that the DAR chief expressed serious concern over the displacement of the Ati individuals, who were among the indigenous peoples granted CLOAs during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

“DAR will extend all assistance and support services to all our agrarian reform beneficiaries, but we must uphold the law,” Galit said.

Galit disclosed that "the 44 BATO members preferred the subdivision of the 1,282 square meter property among themselves," thus, giving them only about 30 square meters each to own.

However, Estrella wants the affected Ati’s to get back to farming by giving them their own agricultural land to cultivate, according to Galit.

Records of the case indicated that Digna Elizabeth Ventura, whose property covered the 1,282 sqm of land occupied by the BATO members, filed a protest on 10 April 2019, against the inclusion of her property in the CLOA granted to the BATO members in 2018.

In 2020, the DAR Regional Office 6 archived the case after ordering Ventura to show a soil analysis test regarding the suitability of the questioned land for agricultural purposes.

In 2023, Ventura presented a certification issued by the Agricultural Land Management and Evaluation Division of the Bureau of Soils under the Department of Agriculture, confirming that the subject land is “not suitable for agriculture”.

Acting on the DA findings, DAR RO-6 Regional Director Sheila B. Enciso upheld the protest filed by Ventura on 15 March 2023.

Enciso also directed the property claimant to file an application for CLOA cancellation before the Office of the Secretary.

Galit said that the Office of the Secretary issued a final order of CLOA cancellation on 5 March 2024, noting that the 44 claimants failed to show proof that would invalidate the DA certification stating that the disputed land is not suitable for agriculture.

“The petitioners representing BATO were unable to present any controverting evidence that would have prompted us to overrule the DARRO’s ruling. They lacked evidence to support their claim of occupancy of the area covered by the CLOA,” Galit explained.

He added that the filing of the motion for reconsideration by the tribe members was in default.