Army backs ancestral domain claim

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – The Philippine Army’s 3rd Infantry Division recently announced that it has given full support to the claim for ancestral domain by the indigenous people (IP) of Central Panay, and for peaceful resolution of land conflict in that area.

A portion of the 33,100-hectare Camp Peralta, home of the Army’s 3rd ID, is one of those areas being claimed by the Tumandok tribe as its ancestral domain.

Captain Reylan Java, spokesperson of the 3rd ID, said the Army has been conducting dialogues with the IP communities, the local government units of Tapaz and Jamindan towns and the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) to resolve the problem.

Lawyer Jose Marie Lamparero, NCIP-Western Visayas legal officer, confirmed the ongoing talks to settle the issues surrounding the IP’s claim for ancestral domain.

“We’re happy that the Philippine Army has taken a step further to resolve these concerns. They have paved a way for the dialogue between the Department of National Defense and the NCIP,” Lamparero said.

Lamparero however clarified that the ancestral domain claim could be resolved finally at the highest level of governance and not within the level of NCIP-Western Visayas and the 3rd ID.

The military reservation, covering 16 of the 22 upland barangays of Tapaz and seven barangays of Jamindan, is considered the country’s biggest military camp next to Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

Established as a military reservation in 1962, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 67, the Army felt the need to raise the issue up to the level of the national government.

The NCIP earlier approved a resolution asking then President Gloria Arroyo to amend PP 67 and reduce the reservation to the land area currently used and occupied by the 3rd ID. This issue has dragged on for some time.

In 1996, the “TUMANDUK” (Tumandok nga Mangunguma nga Nagapangapin sa Duta kag Kabuhi) was organized purportedly to strengthen the IPs’ claims. However, the NPA took advantage of this issue and used it to agitate some IPs to join the armed struggle instead.

Last 2005, a total of 252 Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADT) were served to beneficiaries of Barangay Masaroy and Alcalaga of Calinog town, covering a land area of 1,748 hectares.

In Panay Island, there are four groups of IPs: 1) the Ati, mostly found in the pockets of villages in Antique, Barotac and Calinog, both of Iloilo and Dumarao, Capiz; 2) the Akeanon, found at the mountainous areas of Libacao, Aklan; 3) the Pan-ayanon and 4) Jalawodnon groups found at the mountainous boundaries of Capiz and Iloilo.

The Pan-ayanon and Jalawodnon have the largest population, estimated at 18,000 spreading out in the towns of Jamindan and Tapaz in Capiz, and Calinog and Lambunao in Iloilo.

After a number of meetings last August, the mayors of Jamindan and Tapaz thanked the Army for initiating consultations on the concerns of the IPs. - THE FREEMAN