Eskaya asks government to

cancel CLOA grants in ADs

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Nov 18 (PIA) –Eskaya chieftain of the Biabas Guindulman ancestral domain, Reya Sondon Jovino B. Datahan asks the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to take a look at their issued Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) in Biabas and nearby barangays as these are well within the Eskaya Ancestral Domains (AD).

Speaking during the immersion activity of the Bohol Association of United Development Information Officers (AUDIO) who conducted its Bisita Eskaya at one of the five areas where the indigenous cultural communities (ICC) of the Eskaya presently reside, the chief leader (Reya Sondon) Datahan bemoaned that the CLOAS can reduce their already small claim of the 3,173 hectares of ancestral domains.

The Eskayas, one of the three indigenous cultural communities in Bohol, have government-allocated 3,173 hectares of domains covering the barangays of Lundag in Pilar; Taytay in Duero; Biabas in Guindulman; and Canta-ub in Sierra Bullones.

Settled in these mountain fastness from time immemorial, the Eskayas have been accredited by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) as among the country’s 14 to 17 million indigenous peoples in over 100 ethno-linguistic groups.

According to the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act, all lands, inland waters, coastal areas and natural resources held under a claim of ownership, occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs or their ancestors communally or individually since time immemorial, are in principle, ancestral lands.

The Eskaya ancestral domains have been officially delineated and determined according to the procedure set out by law and have been issued certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) in the name of the Eskaya, registered before the Register of Deeds.

Meanwhile, in the interest of landless farmers and in the need to bolster the country’s food production and sufficiency, the government issues a CLOA under its Land Reform Program to farmers who have been tilling agricultural lands.

The CLOA then is a document showing ownership of the land as granted or awarded to the beneficiary by the DAR.

In the Eskaya case however, the CADT came out before the DAR has already issued CLOAs to farmers claiming new ownership in lands that would be later identified within the ancestral domains.

Over this, Datahan, who is the hailed leader of the Biabas IPs, which is the hailed cultural leader, has asked government to cancel these CLOAs and so they can retain ownership and management of their ancestral domains.

Well within the subject ancestral domains which the Eskayas claim, are also some potential tourist magnets: an overlooking perch in Mount Cambatud, bat caves with guano as local source of inorganic fertilizers and swiftlets, snake cave and Lingganayng Puti that used to sound the alarm the village of an impending disaster.

The Eskayas have also preserved and conserved their language and an interesting system of writing that features now just 26 letters but of 46 inscriptions.

Now made accessible to land transport via the newly constructed concrete road from Lungsodaan in Candijay, the Eskaya in Biabas is just a swing away from Can-umangtad Falls and the Cadapdapan Rice Terraces, all in Candijay.

For the more adventurous, the access from Guindulman town via the DPWN III access is also worth a try. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

CANCEL THE CLOAs. Reya Sondon (Eskaya Leader chieftain) Jovino Datahan points to the direction of Bud Cambatud, a lofty peak in the Eskaya Biabas domains that afford one an almost 360 degree view of the entire domains, much of it is now threatened bt CLOAs issued before the government officially delineated the indigenous people’s ancestral domains. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

TIMAMAS. Cultural bearers and teachers of the Eskaya language, culture and tradition sat with the PIA-AUDIO Bohol in a mini-townhall meeting to allow the indigenous peoples to air out their issues and concerns to the mainstream. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)