ILOILO, Philippines – As Boracay Island continues to grow as a global tourist destination, the island’s indigenous Ati community say they are still fighting for their place on the island, protesting the cancellation of land titles granted to them in 2018.
On Monday, March 16, members of the Boracay Ati Tribal Organization (BATO) held a protest outside the office of Department of Agrarian Reform in Kalibo, Aklan, condemning what they described as the unjust cancellation of their five Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA).
The five CLOAs, granted under the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte, cover 3.1 hectares of parcels of land in Barangay Manoc-Manoc, Boracay, which the DAR gave to the Ati community for agriculture and livelihood.
In 2022, less than three months after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office, several individuals and organizations filed a petition seeking the cancellation of land titles, arguing that the land was unsuitable for agriculture.
Among the applicants are Digna Elizabeth Ventura and Gabriel Singson Jr., as well as Bohol Regal Incorporated, Jeco Development Corporation, and Y Investments Philippines Incorporated.
In 2023, then DAR-Western Visayas director Sheila Enciso supported the petitions covering all five contested lots. On March 5, 2024, the DAR Central Office issued a final order for the cancellation of five CLOAs after the Office of the Department of Agriculture, Soil and Water Management confirmed that the land is unsuitable for agricultural use.
The Ati community has since filed for reconsideration and appealed.
‘We are the origin of Boracay’
With their legal battle going on for years, members of the Ati community are now calling on the Marcos administration to reverse the cancellation.
Maria Tamboon, BATO life coordinator, said the land given to them for farming is more than the property of the original settlers of the island.
This land is our home, our source of food, and our place of culture and tradition,” he said in Filipino during the protest. “The sea and the forests of Boracay shaped our identity as Ati. We are not just a part of Boracay’s history – we are its origin.
However, he said the rapid increase in tourism and economic development in the island has also increased the struggle of the community to preserve space for livelihood.
“The areas we lived in gradually decreased. The farms inherited by our ancestors are now facing various claims, private titles, and large development projects. In the land of our ancestors, we began to feel like strangers,” he said.
Tamboon stressed that their community is not against development but wants it to be cooperative.
“We are not against development. We also want our community to develop. We also want our community to be part of the economy. But our participation should be based on the security of our ancestors’ land, respect for our culture, and fair participation in making decisions that will affect our lives,” he emphasized.
Tamboon added that while Boracay has become a world-famous tourist destination, many members of the Ati community remain in informal jobs without security of tenure or social protection.
“The land struggle of the Atis in Boracay is a reflection of the issues faced by other indigenous people in the country who continue to fight for their ancestral lands against aggressive business,” he said.
Grace Quimpo, former chief agrarian reform officer of DAR Aklan, has joined the Ati community in their plight.
“Why am I here? Because something is wrong. There is something wrong because they only used the Ati,” he said, remembering that the Ati community has been living peacefully on the island and previously they did not ask for agricultural land.
Quimpo said that at the beginning of 2018, he already felt that something was wrong with the plan, fearing that the Aati and other indigenous people were being used by politicians to score points. “Congratulations points.”
He called on the DAR to resolve the issue and carry out its duties to improve the lives of the beneficiaries of the agricultural reform, noting that the continued harassment of the Ati community shows the failure of the organization to fulfill its mission.
Tension on the ground
The dispute that lasted for many years has escalated to cases that the Ati community denounced as abuse of creditors in disputed properties.
Turn on March 242024, several persons purporting to represent one of the petitioners, Ventura, foreclosed and claimed control of portions of the property covered by the CLOAs.
Another incident occurred February 162025, when unknown security guards prevented the people of the Ati community from going to the land claimed by the Jeco Development Corporation.
Daniel Dinopol, BATO’s lawyer, told Rappler that they received the rejection of their cancellation appeal on June 20, 2025. The reconsideration request was filed on February 4, 2026.
Following the February 16 incident, Dinopol said that the rejection order does not constitute the final decision of the case because the motion for reconsideration has not yet been resolved.
He added that under normal administrative procedures, enforcement actions should proceed as soon as the decision is final.
“There was a rejection, a loss, but the failure is not the end and it is an implementation because we submitted a request for reconsideration,” he said.
He explained that if the case is already final, there should have been a notice to leave or a writ of execution or demolition, which will be executed by DAR sheriffs, not employees representing the claimants.
The lawyer also questioned the plaintiffs’ claims, noting that the land area of the five CLOAs had previously been classified as timberland or forest under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
He said that individuals or organizations cannot legally own these areas unless the land is classified by the government as alienable and disposable.
He argued that the claimants’ claim to own the land before the CLOA was illegal squatting on DENR land, thereby nullifying their priority over Ati’s rights arising from the 2018 DAR CLOAs.
“How could these claimants prioritize the rights of Ati, who obtained the CLOA title? It is illegal for anyone or any organization to own a forest area or a tree area unless the land under the DENR is considered and reclassified by the DENR through a presidential order that can be alienated and disposed of,” he stressed.
“The right of Ati came from the DAR … they own the land under the jurisdiction of the DENR,” he added.
Dinopol added that some claimants cited tax declarations as proof of their claims, but stressed that paying taxes on government land does not automatically lead to ownership.
He said the BATO case will take a long time in law, but he vowed that he will use legal means to ensure that the Ati community of Boracay will get what they were given.
“We are making administrative solutions exhausted. This may even reach the Supreme Court,” he said. – Rappler.com
