ROMBLON (UCAN): The Episcopal Commission on Indigenous People of the Diocese of Romblon in the central Philippines, called on the government to rehouse Ati tribal people following reports that local government officials planned to build a casino in the area.
Father Billy Gregorio, head of the commission, said Ati families affected by the project must be relocated. He said the local government had committed to donate two hectares of land, but that deliberations by council officers were still ongoing.
The Ati are the original settlers of the island of Romblon, which is 40 minutes by boat from the world-renowned Boracay island.
Ronnie Samson, the mayor of the town of San Jose in Romblon, admitted the local government was reviewing the idea of allowing the island to have its first casino.
“The Catholic Church has been publicly opposing casino operations,” the mayor noted, “but it is still up to the local government.”
Claribelle Jane Alfeche, of the British-Filipino company Ocean Edge Resort, said it employed Atis in its resort. “Our ultimate goal should be to uplift their way of life through cultural preservation,” she said.
In Manila in the third week if November, tribal groups protested outside the Environment Department’s national office, condemning its alleged inaction on environmentally critical projects.
“It has failed to curb applications and commercial operations of big mining companies, plantations and other big businesses,” Gia Glarino of the group Kalikasan, said.
Coal mining companies have long planned for projects affecting at least 70,000 hectares of tribal land at the Andap River Valley Complex in the Caraga region of Mindanao.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
Activists said tribal schools and communities have been repeatedly forced to evacuate and subjected to food blockades by the military.
At least 31,180 hectares of old growth forests are being explored by large-scale mining concerns in the Pantaron Mountain Range, also in Mindanao. Schools have also reportedly shut down following military operations.
In the Daguma Mountain Range, applications are being made to convert almost 143,000 hectares of Integrated Forest Management Agreements, owned by one family, into large-scale mining projects.
In 2017, gunmen believed to be soldiers, killed Datu Victor Danyan and seven members of his tribe tending to their farmland.
“All projects with provisional approvals situated in these intense conflict areas must be canceled,” Kalikasan declared.
The environmental group has called for an independent investigation into alleged abuses by security personnel against tribal people.
