The plight of the Aeta community in Boracay

By Ronelo S. Ladiao

Boracay Island -For four years the Holy Rosary Parish Ati Mission (HRPAM) spearheaded by Catholic nuns dedicated their lives to serve, protect and educate a small community of Aetas in Sitio Bolabog, Barangay Balabag located in the Island of Boracay .

The village has a population of more than 200 Aetas including children. These once nomadic people who were among the indigenous group in the Philippines and claiming to be the first inhabitants of Boracay island live close to nature.

Their culture reflects the simplicity of living beyond materialism with simple aspirations of feeding their family and live a peaceful life.

For decades the Aetas of Boracay suffered persecution and injustice from landowners who drive them away from their land since they were considered eyesores and useless for the flourishing tourism of the island.

Day by day they feared landowners who gave them ultimatum to leave their land in Sitio Bolabog since they don't own land or have land titles.

This sad and woeful dilemma of the Aetas motivated a group religious order to create and organize the Parish funded foundation for the benefit of these poor and helpless people.

Presently, the second batch of nuns composed of Sister Lydia Malgapo, Sister Victoria Ostan and Sister Violeta Diocena attend to the needs of the community in terms of spiritual guidance, educating the Aeta children and providing them with small livelihood projects.

The foundation also helps the Aeta community in their quest to take back a part of their land in Boracay. Presently, the land where the Aetas stay are owned by politicians and businessman who urge these helpless people to leave their homes so they could use the land for commercial purposes.

But the sad fact is they were driven away without listening to their sentiments and requests. The intercession of the religious orders did not even help.

For almost four years now the nuns who lived together with these poor people claimed that the Philippine Constitution recognizes the Ancestral Domain that identified the Aetas of Boracay as indigenous people after they passed documents to the National Commission for Indigenous People (NCIP) in 2002. Boracay was also declared by the late President Ferdinand Marcos as tourist zone and marine reserve thus nobody truly owned the island only that most resort owners hold tax declaration certificates.

In fact, a dialogue between the landowners and the Aetas with a proposed solution to relocate them outside Boracay attended by various government agencies and non governmental organizations was held last April 2002. But the Aetas refused to leave Boracay because they believed the island is the home of their ancestors thus they have the right to stay and the sad part is there was no relocation site given to them after the forum.

The claim of the Aetas as the original inhabitants adds confusion to the already confused situation due to the dispute and constant urging of resort owners to the local government of Aklan to declare the island alienable and disposable. Until now their assurance to stay in the paradise island still has no enlightenment and guarantee because the government remained deaf while the landowners ceaselessly pressured the community of Aetas to leave their land if not after Christmas then it should done before the month of February this year.

Historically the old Aeta inhabitants were responsible for naming the island Boracay that came from Aeta dialect "Bora" means bubbles and "Bukay" means white sand.

"If politicians and foreigners are given privilege to own a land why we Aetas can't have a piece of land stay and live peacefully?" quipped by the community's oldest member who remained witness to the cruelties of the landowners.

The nuns who continuously pursue their noble mission believed that it is unfair to deprive the first inhabitants of the island the right to stay just because they are uneducated and poor. For them the Aetas are gems of Boracay that should be a part of any development plan to preserve the rich cultural essence of the place.

For the past six years Boracay has contributed 3.5 billion annually to the economy of the country. But every time the nuns asked for school board assistance and teachers in their effort to educate young Aetas the local government sector would depressingly answered that no funds are available for that kind of project.