|
After
more than a decade of fighting for the recognition of their ancestral
domains, the Subanen people of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte finally
received their Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) last June
6, 2003. In an auspicious affair held at the Siocon town center, President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assisted by NCIP Chairperson Atty. Reuben
Dasay-Lingating, himself a native Subanen; officially awarded the
long awaited CADT to Timuay Boy Anoy, the head of the Siocon Subanen
Association, the local Peoples Organization which spearheaded the
long struggle to recover and protect the traditional lands of the
Indigenous Subanen.
The
Subanen ancestral domain has long been the subject of a bitter feud
between the local people and the Canadian-based Toronto Ventures,
Inc. engaged in the exploration of gold deposits in Siocon. The
Subanen people have consistently protested the awarding of a Mineral
Production Sharing Agreement in favor of the TVI, claiming that
the MPSA was illegally secured as the TVI had not secured a Free
Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the affected communities.
Furthermore, the Subanen aside from expressing their fears with
the irreparable impact of the TVI activities to the environment,
claimed that unwarranted operations of the multi-national company
has caused deep divisions and conflict among the once tightly-knit
Subanen communities.
It
is hoped that the awarding of the Siocon CADT to the Subanen people
by no less than the resident of the Philippines lays the framework
of the Governments policy towards the current conflict between the
Mineral industry and the Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines.
|
|
 |
|
