CLARK FREEPORT—More than 4,000 Aytas based in Mabalacat City and nearby Bamban, Tarlac, are set to launch protest actions against the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) over the alleged refusal of the state-owned company to recognize the Ancestral Domain law.
Juvylyn Margarito, spokesman for the Ayta communities in Mabalacat City in Pampanga and Bamban, said the tribal leaders will file criminal and administrative charges against CDC President Arthur Tugade for “total disregard” of the law.
“Our people in Mabalacat City and the others in Bamban will file charges against CDC [officials] and, at the same time, hold protests to express our sentiments against them,” said Margarito of Marcos Village, Mabalacat.
She disclosed that her group will file cases before the Ombudsman against Tugade.
“Tugade, representing CDC, continuously ignores the law by claiming our ancestral lands as part of the free-port area.” Margarito said.
She also assailed the CDC for threatening to file charges against them if “we insist our claim on ancestral domain rights.”
“We were threatened and harassed. The CDC is removing our rights over our own land. We can’t decide for our land,” Margarito said in the dialect.
Leaders of Ayta communities also questioned the Joint Management Agreement (JMA) which Maragrito described a “bitter pill to swallow.” It was crafted in 2007 but was not implemented due to absence of implementing rules.
“The JMA was conceptualized by CDC, a measure that allows Ayta communities to participate in the management of lands covered by the Ancestral Domain law. But with the absence of guidelines and IRR, it cannot be implemented,” Margarito said.
“The JMA is supposed to be governed and run by both the CDC and Aytas.”
Margarito said tribal leaders and their members will not recognize JMA.
We are not against CDC. It is the National Commission on Indigenous People which coordinated with the free-port management in terms of Ayta welfare issues.”
She said the tribal leaders are calling for the immediate revocation of the JMA to allow Aytas and other tribesmen to develop their own land.
The ancestral domain covers 10,684 hectares of property located beside the free port. The CDC claims the area is a “sub-zone” of the free port.
Margarito said 3,100 hectares were “grabbed” by CDC and allocated it to tourism-related projects.
Under the law, Aytas have the right to control and manage the areas since it has been declared as ancestral domain.
Noel Tulabut, CDC spokesman and head of the agency’s communications department, said, “It is precisely out of respect for the IPs [Indigenous peoples] and the ancestral domain law or CADT [Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title] that CDC is enforcing the rules and provisions of the JMA for the protection of IPs and their ancestral domain, the area being located within the CSEZ [Clark Special Economic Zone] which is under the jurisdiction of CDC.
“The JMA is valid and in fact annotated in the CADT. The CADT is in the name of Tribong Ayta and may not be sold, transferred or disposed. The JMA, which authorizes CDC to manage CADT area in CSEZ, is still in effect not to favor CDC but IPs and their rights to their lands.”