PHILIPPINES: Legal Claim Opens Doors for Indigenous Islanders
By Luz Rimban

CORON ISLAND, Philippines, Oct 1 (IPS) - The blue-green waters around this pristine paradise of sheer limestone cliffs, white sand beaches, and virgin forests have always been part of the ancestral domain of the indigenous Tagbanua people.

But it was only in June that the tribe obtained legal claim on the land and waters they had nurtured and lived on for generations in this island, located in Palawan province in central Philippines.

And while the Philippines' environment department has awarded 132 Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) since 1994, the document given to the Tagbanua is so far the only one that includes ancestral waters. The ancestral domain certificate covers more than 22,000 hectares of land and sea.

For the Tagbanua, it is a means to protect their island and waters from the destructive methods of migrant fishermen and a government plan to make northern Palawan, more than hour by plane southwest from Manila, a prime tourist area.

But the Tagbanua's victory is also being watched by other island tribes across the Philippine archipelago -- and even the Australia's aborigines -- who are reclaiming the waters that have sustained generations.

''We're going to try what the Tagbanua have done,'' says 32-year- old Elorde Vicente of the Ati tribe of Boracay Island in central Philippines. ''We're going to apply for a CADC that would include Boracay and the surrounding waters.''

But such efforts may be a little late for Boracay, whose indigenous Ati found themselves driven away since the island's discovery in the late seventies by businessmen and tourists. Today, Boracay is one of the country's most popular tourist spots -- and many say it is headed for ecological disaster.
The Tagbanua are determined not to let the same happen to Coron, which has been classified as one of eight areas in the Philippines protected for their ''unique physical and biological significance'' and must be ''managed to enhance biological diversity and protected against destructive human exploitation''.

But the beauty of Coron and the rest of northern Palawan has proven too breathtaking to be passed up by outsiders. As it is, the Tagbanua fear that a government tourism plan will hasten the island's destruction.

The plan was the result of a 17-month study completed in 1997 and funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It will include an extensive infrastructure component-airport, hotels, ports and roads in an area of roughly 8,000 sq km. Implementation of the plan is set for 1999.

JICA recommended that ''no tourism development should be allowed in and around Coron Island except for aerial observation''. Other developments should be in tune with ''physical accommodating capacities'' and ''local socioeconomic requirements'', it added.

Says tourism department official Cheryl Hulleza: ''We want to limit the areas in Coron Island where tourists can go in consideration of the concerns and issues of the community.''

But this brings little comfort to the Tagbanua. Already, ''aerial observations'' come in the form of chartered planes that fly low over the limestone cliffs to give tourists a view of the island. Tourist yachts and motor boats are moored in coves, letting tourists off at the white sand beaches or inland lakes.

So far, the only area on Coron that the tourism department plans to develop is Kayangan Lake, a freshwater lagoon nestled amid the towering limestone cliffs in the northwest. Still, tourists manage to enter the other lakes and beaches considered sacred by the tribe.

The Tagbanua also say the tourists' din disturbs the swiftlet, a tiny bird that nests in Coron's caves. These nests are a source of livelihood for Tagbanua fishermen who gather them starting December, and sell to traders.

Norlito Languyod, 40, recalls how, as a boy, he would hie off to the clan cave and bring down as many as 50 nests. These days, he is lucky if he can find three, because the swiftlets are now driven to more quiet nesting places.

''If we allow things to continue, even the Tagbanua will disappear,'' says Tagbanua leader Rodolfo Aguilar, chairman of the Tagbanua Foundation of Coron Island.

Aguilar says they are not really against tourists coming in. But he says the Tagbanua first want to finish formulating their ancestral domain management plan before discussing ecotourism.

Tribal leaders say their new ancestral domain certificate meantime gives them the legal leverage to confront tourist operators and migrant fisherfolk who disregard their culture.

But Dr Lope Calanog, co-director of the environment department's programme for protected areas, says the continued influx of tourists into Coron may be due partly to the Tagbanua themselves. He says the tribe refuses help from government agencies that have the power to impose restrictions on tourists.

The Tagbanua are now studying how to deal with abusive migrant fisherfolk who use illegal methods that destroy Coron's coral reefs. Says Aguilar: ''They are not from here, so they don't care.''

But the recognised claim over Coron's waters has steeled the Tagbanua's resolve to stop the destruction of their environment. After all, they had sought the inclusion of tribal waters in their claim because ''the land is meaningless without the sea''.

Some say the Tagbanua's ways should be a blueprint for those who are looking a sound ecological management system.

For instance, the Tagbanua fish just enough for a day's meal with some left over to share with neighbours. In lean months, when the women forage for wild tubers, they make sure they dig only a shallow hole and leave part of the root crop to grow back. When they discover water sources in the forest, they leave markers to guide the rest of the tribe.

''The reason Coron remains beautiful is that it was left alone),'' says Dave de Vera, executive director of the Philippine Association for Intercultural Development which backed the Tagbanua's ancestral domain claim.

''We (outsiders) are looking for a magic and spiritual formula called indigenous resource management, but that's all there is to it,'' he says. ''You just don't touch something that you have no business touching.''(END/IPS/ap-en-pr/pcij/cb/js/98)