Saturday, December 20, 2008 NCIP grants ancestral domain titles to 3 tribes By Carlo P. Mallo
IT'S an early Christmas for three tribal groups in Southern Mindanao, as their ancestral domain will soon have the government's official stamp.
In an interview with Sun.Star Davao, Engineer Elvie Jabines, officer in-charge of the ancestral domain unit of the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) in Southern Mindanao, said that two certificate of ancestral domain titles (CADTs) were already granted while one is undergoing final reading by the NCIP en banc.
One of the ancestral domain areas is in Compostela Valley, which covers 141,773.31 hectares. The CADT was named under the Mansaka tribe and spans five municipalities in the province.
Another area is in the hinterland of Davao City which covers 36,714 hectares of land for the Ubo-Manobo Tribe. The area awarded to the tribal group is located between the boundary of Marilog and Paquibato districts.
Meanwhile, a 6,367 hectare area applied for by the B'laan tribe in Bongmal, Kiblawan in the province of Davao del Sur is already for final reading by the NCIP en banc.
"It may be passed by year end or early next year," Jabines said.
