President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo awarded certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) to some 798 Aeta and Dumagat families, two of the country’s indigenous people (IPs).
The President awarded the CADTs covering 5,648 hectares to the Dumagats of Dibut, Aurora Province, and 10,323 hectares to Aetas of Bamban, Tarlac, and Mabalacat, Pampanga.
“Now you can start developing your land. No one will disrupt you now. If anyone wants to invest in your land, then they have to pay rental,” the President said in the Pampango dialect.
All the CADTs awarded by the President today are “all clean titles.” The awarding of CADTs, a symbol of land security for the IPs, is a commitment of the President even when she was still a senator when she co-authored the Ancestral Domain Bill.
The Senate Bill led to the enactment of R.A. No. 8371, otherwise known as the “Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997.” The law addressed the aspirations of the IPs and the Indigenous Cultural Communities through the recognition, protection and promotion of the Rights to Ancestral Domains and Lands, Self-governance and Empowerment, Social Justice, Human Rights and Cultural Integrity. (PIA-MMIO)
