No Aetas in Boracay before dev't--Trompeta
Department of Tourism (DoT) Regional Director Edwin Trompeta believes there were no indigenous people (Aetas) that inhabited Boracay before it was developed into a high-end tourism destination. The Aetas stayed in mainland Caticlan, he averred.
Trompeta's reaction was in relation to the pending inquiry of the House of Representatives after party-list congressmen filed House Resolution 829. The resolution directs the committee on national cultural communities to probe the alleged dispossession of the Ati of their lands in Sitio Bolabog in Barangay Balabag. Balabag is one of the three resort villages in the island.
"The Aetas are not original inhabitants of the island resort. They came to the island as workers of the resort owners. In fact, I've known a group of Aetas living in the property of one of my classmates," attested Trompeta.
The director, who is an Akeanon, attested that the Atis are concentrated in Caticlan. There is no available livelihood for the Atis in the island before it became a famous vacation spot. The land owner allocated portion of the property to the Ati workers. "The properties where they are staying now are actually listed in the name of our classmate," Trompeta added without naming the property owner.
"Actually, the Atis are not the ones pushing for the supposed claims of ancestral domain and complaining of their displacement in the island. The are people behind the claims and complaints and those people actually come from Iloilo City," the director added.
Nevertheless, the tourism director welcomes the inquiry to determine the claims and complaints of the Atis in the island.
In their claims for ancestral domain, the Atis found refuge with Sr. Victoria Ustan, head of the Holy Rosary Parish Mission (HRPAM). It said the mission has been with the Atis for number of years.
It was learned however that their claims for ancestral domain has yet to be resolved by the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) until now.