BORACAY Is.—Members of the Ati tribal community here have urged the government through the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to resolve the 2013 killing of 26-year-old Ati spokesman Dexter Condez.
Richelda Sinag, an Ati representative in the Malay Sanguniangbayan said the unsolved murder was discussed during the visit of NCIP Commissioner Alex Centena to the Boracay Ati community here last June 30.
“We want the government to reopen the case and investigate,” Sinag said.
Condez, who stood as the voice of the Ati tribes’ claims to a 2.1 hectare land here, was gunned down on February 22, 2013. A security guard who allegedly pulled the trigger was arrested on March 13, 2013 in Barangay Sta. Cruz, Laguna.
However, the mastermind and motive of the killing were yet to be established. The ownership issue of land over the Ati land has also been unresolved since the 1980’s. The Atis claimed they were the original inhabitants of this resort island.
“We asked Commissioner Centena to revive the case,” Sinag said.
Last July 2, armed three security guards of the Winace Security Agency entered the Ati community at the Sitio Bantud, Barangay Manocmanoc, Boracay.
Sister Elvie Oliamot of the Daughters of Charity that had been helping the indigenous people of the island narrated that the guards ordered the tribesmen to vacate the premises. The community has 62 families in 54 households.
“The guards went away because of the swift response of the Malay Municipal Police Station and the Boracay Priests,” Oliamot recalled.
In March last year, the Winace Security Agency was also believed to be behind the group that forcibly fenced off another Ati community in Manocmanoc.
Malay police chief Lt. Col. Mar Joseph Ravelo, said the three security guards did not have notice to vacate or any document ordering the eviction.
The Ati community possesses a Certificate of Land Ownership granted by then President Rodrigo Duterte