Led by the Boracay Ati Tribal Organization (BATO), indigenous Ati people marched on March 16 through the streets of Kalibo, Aklan toward the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Provincial Office. They condemned the ongoing land grabbing of their ancestral domain following the illegal cancellation of their Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA).

Five Ati owned lots in Boracay, officially “awarded” by the government in 2018 in the form a CLOA, are now under threat of seizure. DAR cancelled the CLOA in March 2024 upon the request of a private developer, citing that the land was “not suitable for agriculture.”

The Ati have since faced repeated harassment and eviction attempts. The latest was on February 16, when ownership claimant JECO Development Corporation fenced off one of the lots. They installed a gate, locked it, and barred the community from entering their own land.

BATO had already denounced the putting up of the fence. The group said the armed guards placed there only held a “notice of order of denial.” They asserted that the document cannot be considered final, pending their motion for reconsideration.

According to BATO, their land is falsely claimed not suitable for agriculture. “These lands are officially recognized as agricultural, and we have cultivated them using our indigenous knowledge and traditional way of life,” the group said in 2025.

At the protest in Kalibo, BATO expressed outrage at the DAR and the Marcos government for the injustice they face. A large banner at the protest read, “Meager land for the Ati of Boracay: grabbed and withheld by the Marcos administration! Where is justice?”

Meanwhile, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Aklan expressed solidarity with the Ati. The group said that instead of upholding and protecting the Ati’s rights to their ancestral land in Boracay, these rights are being taken away.

They joined BATO’s urgent call to stop the enforcement of the questionable order, return the ancestral land to the Ati, conduct an investigation into the land dispute, and hold accountable those responsible for violating the Ati’s rights.