TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Nov. 18 (PIA) -- Eskaya Chieftain of the Biabas Guindulman ancestral domain, Reya Sondon Jovino Datahan, is asking the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) to review its Certificates of Land Ownership Awards (CLOA) issued in Biabas and nearby barangays as these are 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 currently reside, Datahan lamented that the CLOAs would reduce their claim over the 3,173 hectares of ancestral domains.

The Eskayas, one of the three indigenous cultural communities (ICCs) in Bohol, possess the 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.

The Eskayas have been accredited by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) as among the country’s 14 to 17 million indigenous peoples (IPs) 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 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. 

Datahan has asked the government to cancel these CLOAs and so they can retain ownership and management of their ancestral domains.

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.

The Eskayas have also preserved and conserved their language and an interesting system of writing that features 26 letters but of 46 inscriptions. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)