Camiguin indigenous leaders condemned the passing of a provincial resolution on May 16, 2023 denying the “existence of indigenous groups in the province since time immemorial,” and demanded the official reinstatement of their indigenous status in their province.
The Kamigin tribe, which was recognized by the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) as part of the 110 indigenous tribes in the Philippines, has over 15,000 documented members. But this has not stopped the provincial and municipal governments in Camiguin from claiming that they are just using the title to illegitimately claim properties from the private sector.
The tribe is a part of the Proto-Manobo family, which settled in the island long before the Spanish period and speaks Kinamiging — an endangered language after the influx of people from Bohol post-Spanish period, Mindanao anthropologist Antonio Montalvan II said in an interview with Bulatlat.
“Ito ay malaking pagtapak sa aming mga sarili dahil ninakawan nila kami ng karapatan sa pagtanggi nila na may indigenous people (IP) ang Camiguin,” Datu Dario Awitin, a leader from a sixth-generation clan from Brgy. Poblacion, Sagay, Camiguin, said in a press conference on April 30.
Three years prior to the passage of the provincial resolution, the town of Sagay released a municipal ordinance declaring Apo Mejong, a village chief of the tribe, as a folkloric hero of the area and October 1 as a corresponding celebratory day — contradictory to the municipality's later denial of the existence of the Kamigin tribe.
Sagay’s initial claim on March 30, 2023, was then followed by other municipalities and later adopted by the provincial government through a Sangguniang Panlalawigan resolution.
Camiguin’s lone district Rep. Jurdin Jesus Romualdo had previously denied the existence of the group in the province and even called them “crazy” for claiming their ancestral domains.
“Isa akong Datu at kilala ako ni Congressman Romualdo pero dumating ang panahon na ipinagkaila pa rin nila [ang pagkakaroon ng IPs] sa pamamagitan ng pamumulitika sa bawat barangay na walang certificates ang mga IPs,” Awiten added.
Romualdo, father of the newly elected Gov. Xavier Jesus Romualdo, was also the principal author of House Bill 9608, which aims to remove the NCIP’s power to grant title to ancestral lands. He argued that there have been “fraudulent claims to ancestral domains and ancestral lands,” and “non-indigenous cultural communities are also involuntarily subjected to customs not their own.”
The tribe was issued a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim for a 1,006-hectare piece of land, which consists of three barangays in Sagay and a barangay in Mambajao, Camiguin, by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2018.
They are in the process of converting it into a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT). But first, local offices must be informed, and the actual area must be surveyed.
The slow awarding of titles has been a consistent problem for NCIP Region 10. For one, the agency was criticized by the Manobo-Pulangihon tribe of Bukidnon for its delayed processing of the tribe’s CADTs, which allowed Pablo Lorenzo, owner of the Montalvan Ranch, to occupy the area and force the group to evacuate through harassment from his guards.
Without recognition from Camiguin province, the group lacks access to several government assistance programs like the Assistance to Individual in Crisis Situation, which are necessary for its members who require financial, medical, and educational aid.
Currently, tribal leaders are continuing efforts to gain local-level recognition of their community with the assistance of the NCIP.
“Napakasakit na itinanggi ang aming mga magulang at ipinagkaila ang aming mga ninuno, mga walang respeto. Bakit nila ginawa ito kahit meron kaming mga dokumento,” Ebcas added. ●
