‘God’s gift’ for Ati

God’s gift Members of the Ati tribe enjoy peace in their community in the island-paradise of Boracay. Jun N. Aguirre

BORACAY ISLAND — The Boracay Ati Tribal Organization (BATO) has expressed relief and considered as God’s gift a recent Supreme Court (SC) decision affirming their ownership of a parcel of land in this island-paradise.

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Delsa Justo, chieftain of BATO, said that they are still awaiting their lawyer in Metro Manila to come over and explain to them fully the decision of the SC.

In a seven-page resolution dated 10 June but released only this week, the high tribunal’s First Division denied the petition for review of the award of the land to the Ati tribal community.

“We fought for it for seven years. We Atis, who are known to use only slippers in our travels, have to buy a cheap pair of shoes just to be able to attend court hearings,” Justo said.

“In one occasion, I had to plead to the court for me to allow the use of slipper inside the courtroom because my shoes was damaged by the rains,” she said.

It was the couple Gregorio Sanson and Maria Lourdes who questioned the legality of the Ati’s ancestral domain claim of over 25,310-square-meter land at the back beach of Boracay.

The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) awarded the land under Resolution 154-2010 AD dated 3 August 2010.

In November last year, President Rodrigo Duterte gave certificate of land ownership in six packet areas of this resort island.

“Our only remaining wish for now is that we hope that the killing of our colleague Dexter Condez would soon attain justice,” she said.

Condez, who served as spokesman of BATO, was shot to death by unidentified perpetrators in 2 February 2013. After several months of investigation by the police, a security guard was arrested.

The security guard was said to have been deployed to one of the resorts which has interests over the lands of the Ati. The suspect is still detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Kalibo according to Justo.