Reports that members of an Ati tribe in the world-famous Boracay island resort in Malay, Aklan, were forcibly thrown out of their land were part and parcel of an “orchestrated drama.”

A lawyer of the owner of a contested piece of land in Barangay Manoc-Manoc in Malay made the assertion in an exclusive interview with DAILY TRIBUNE on Tuesday, claiming that nuns could be behind the dubious stories.

Atty. Ma. Victoria P. Lim-Florido, representing the owner of a lot covering 1,282 square meters, flatly denied the claimed eviction and the alleged “kidnapping” on 25 March of three minors belonging to the indigenous peoples (IP) group.

Florido said a particular nun, identified only as Sister Elvie of the Daughters of Charity, made it appear that the IP members were dispossessed of the land.

“The three families living on my clients’ land are Ati who do not want to live there,” Florido said.

“They were forced to live there by the nuns. These Ati families even asked us to rent a banca because they wanted to go back to the mainland,” she added.

On 24 March, the tribe members had left Boracay of their own free will, and so the owners of the land ordered the guards to fence off the vacated area, Florido recounted.

It came as a surprise that the next day, some other Ati people went to the property with Sister Elvie. A police blotter entry noted that the nun berated the guards and the landowners.

Florido said her client’s 1,282 sqm landholding was divided and handed over to 44 supposed Ati recipients of certificates of land ownership award (CLOA) from the Department of Agrarian Reform.

The awardees, however, did not till the land allotted to them, about 30 square meters each; thus, the DAR rescinded the CLOA, the lawyer said.

“Worse, the tenants were not those Ati indicated in the CLOA,” she said.

Republic Act 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law of 1988, states that land given to land reform beneficiaries through a CLOA must be tilled and not used to build domiciles.

The DAR invalidated the CLOA for the divided 1,282 sqm. in a decision dated 5 March 2024. Agrarian Reform Secretary John Castriciones awarded the CLOA in 2018.

No altercation

Florido also denied that there was an altercation between the Ati families and the guards, who were not armed with long firearms, contrary to reports.

“It was made to appear that they were forcibly evicted. It is not true. The detachment commander (Ricky Tamayo Libratar) told members of the media that he told Sister Yna that they had time to vacate the premises. But it is understandable that when they leave, we will automatically seal off the property,” she said.

Upholding the law

Florido claimed the nuns were using the Ati families “for picture taking” purposes while not providing them with food and their other needs.

“I don’t know how to say this properly, but everything was orchestrated by a woman of the cloth,” said Florido about Sister Elvie.

“A certain Elvie and Roselyn Morales instructed the three families who built makeshift huts on the premises to come out of the said property and to leave their minor children to make it look like they were held hostage,” she said.

The Atis of Boracay are the only remaining Ati community under the care of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who adopted the tribe to embrace Catholicism.

Meanwhile, Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella sided with the landowner, saying that they were just upholding the law regarding the Ati on Boracay.

In a press conference held after the distribution of CLOAs in Negros Occidental on Tuesday, Estrella stressed that there was no basis for awarding the CLOAs to the members of the Boracay Ati Tribal Association.

“First, the Bureau of Soils and Water Management under the Department of Agriculture declared the landholding not suitable for agriculture, which should exempt it from DAR coverage under Republic Act 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program,” Estrella said.

The second reason, Estrella said, was that the period for issuing the notice of coverage of private lands had expired on 30 June 2014, while the DAR issued the CLOAs to the Ati in 2018.

“Third, they cannot invoke Executive Order 75 here because it is not even government-owned land since there is a legitimate claimant. EO 75 is a Malacañang order directing all government agencies to identify government land that could be distributed to qualified beneficiaries,” Estrella said.