Silence of the nuns
Lawyer Victoria Lim-Florido says holding Atis in the contested property was orchestrated by a ‘woman of the cloth.’
Daily TribuneLawyer Victoria Lim-Florido says holding Atis in the contested property was orchestrated by a ‘woman of the cloth.’
Nuns belonging to the Daughters of Charity in Malay, Aklan, who were accused of using the indigenous Ati tribe in a Boracay land-grabbing incident, remain tight-lipped.
Since Friday, DAILY TRIBUNE has been trying to get a comment from “Sister Elvie,” who was pointed to as the alleged orchestrator of the “hostage” scenario in Sitio Angol, Barangay Manoc-manoc, Boracay island on 25 March.
She was not answering phone calls or messages. Ati tribe leader Maria Tamboon provided DAILY TRIBUNE her number for the nun’s side of the story.
We will retaliate
Lawyer Victoria Lim-Florido, representing the landowner of the disputed 1,282-square meter lot that was anomalously awarded to the Ati tribe, said Sister Elvie of the Daughters of Charity arrived at the property and called on all adult Ati members, explicitly instructing them to “leave the minors behind” so that they would be taken “hostage” inside the property.
“It was made to appear that they were forcibly evicted. That is not true. Detachment Commander Ricky Tamayo Libratar told media members that they had talked to another nun, Sister Yna, and that they had time to vacate the premises. But it is understandable that when they left, we would automatically seal off the property,” Lim-Florido said.
She said the nuns were only using the Ati families “for picture-taking” purposes, and they were not provided with proper sustenance, such as food supplies, among other things.
“I don’t know how to say this properly, but everything was orchestrated by a woman of the cloth,” Lim-Florido said.
When asked for comment, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said they “are not in the position to answer the matter but the diocese of Aklan.”
In a separate interview, Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella said they would impose what the law says — the cancellation of the certificate of land ownership award given to the Ati by then DAR Secretary John Castriciones during the term of then-President Rodrigo Duterte.
Estrella said they will provide the Ati with one to three hectares of government land, as mandated by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law.
Ati tribe leader Tamboon said they didn’t need the DAR land because the CLOA that they possessed was valid.
DAR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Napoleon Galit earlier said that Castriciones had committed a misrepresentation of the property, noting that it was the duty of the secretary to do due diligence to ensure that the amended CARP Law would be upheld and followed.
Based on the document obtained by DAILY TRIBUNE, the land acquired by Lim-Florido’s clients was declared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as alienable and disposable land as per the Land Classification Map No. 3462 on 8 May 2019.
Lim-Florido added that her clients secured a certification from the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Soil and Water Management on 27 July 2022, stating that the disputed land was not suitable for agriculture.
Also, Lim-Florido said the land was neither government-owned, public land nor land classified as an ancestral domain.
“While my client was processing the titling, sometime on 8 November 2018, the land was suddenly confiscated by then-DAR Secretary Castriciones and was included among the lands distributed to the Atis under CLOA OCT No. CARP 2018000276, where 44 Ati members were named as farmer-beneficiaries,” Lim-Florido told DAILY TRIBUNE in an earlier interview.