Subanons hold three rallies to demand ancestral domain titles ZamboEcoZone

The claim has been opposed by the Zamboanga Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (ZamboEcozone) because it said the area was granted to the agency under a presidential proclamation issued in 1997. Because of ZamboEcozone’s opposition, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has stopped the processing of the Subanons’ claim until the conflict shall have been resolved, NCIP executive director Rosalina Bistoryong said in a recent memorandum to the local agency’s office.

The Subanons were joined by some Muslim and Christian residents living in the three barangays to express their support for the tribesmen’s demand.

With most of them wearing their native costumes, the protesters first stopped at the ZamboEcozone office in San Ramon and afterwards proceeded to the NICP office to voice their sentiments to the officials of the two government organizations. The city government has also conveyed last month to NCIP its opposition to the same claim.

But several timuays interviewed by Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ) said under the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA), the estimated 2,500 Subanon families who now occupy the upland areas in the three barangays should be granted the ancestral domain title since they possess a native title to the land. The IPRA, which was enacted in 1997, says that natives whose ancestors have occupied a land even before the pre-Spanish regime possess a native title to the area. The same law says that any land that is covered by a native title may be considered as public land.

Rural-Urban Missionaries (RUM) executive director Priscilla Saladaga, whose non-government organization has been assisting the Subanons prepare the documents related to the claim, said pre-historic archeological artifacts, the families’ ancient genealogies, the extant Subanon names given to mountains, rivers, trees and other landmarks plus other existing evidences support the “native title” claim of the families. RUM is a local Church-based civil society group operating only in Western Mindanao with a special apostolate for the indigenous peoples.

The Subanons in Labuan filed their initial petition for the same land in the same year of 1997 when the IPRA law was enacted by Congress, the timuays said. But complicated procedures and requirements have hindered the processing of the claim, Saladaga said.

NCIP Zamboanga sub-office head Engr. Humphrey Hamoy told PAZ that his office also supports the Subanons’ demand. He said the opposition by ZamboEcozone should not stop his office from proceeding with the perimeter survey that is the next step in determining the validity of the claim.

Most of the Subanon families cultivate the upland areas as kaingin farmers, growing various crops they sell in the city. Anthropological records in government archives show that their ancestors started inhabiting the Zamboaga Peninsula as early as 1,500 years ago.

NCIP has issued ancestral domain titles to other Subanon communities in Zamboaga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay provinces, Engr. Hamoy said. Rey-Luis Banagudos/PAZ Press Release