A GROUP of lumad individuals (indigenous people) belonging to the B'laan tribe took to the Court of Appeals (CA) on Friday its call for justice on the alleged land-grabbing of their ancestral lands by a big company at Polomolok, South Cotabato .
Gapal Engkaya, secretary of the B'laan Livelihood and Cultural Association, was among the 100 others who urged the CA to decide on the case they filed against Dole Philippines to leave their ancestral lands.
Engakaya said they had filed a Cancellation of Titles and Reversion against the fake titles the company is allegedly presenting.
"It was during the time of President Carlos Garcia na kaming mga B'laan nahatagan ug 25,070,000 square meters of land sa Polomolok ug ingon sa Public Land Act, dili angayan dapat na kini masudlan ug mga korporasyon o bisan kinsa lang," he said.
Engkaya said they have lived in the area since time immemorial but in 1982 the Dole Philippines started claiming their land using it for pineapple plantation without paying even a single cent to the aggrieved parties.
Thousands of B'laan families have already been displaced since the Dole's occupation in the 1980s, he added.
"Pero bisan pa kung bayaran mi nila, dili mi gusto kay ang amo na mabalik sa amo ang among yutang kabilin na gikan pa sa among mga kaliwat," Engkaya said.
Engkaya appealed to the CA to decide on its case for their lives depends on it.
"Unta mo-pabor sa amo ang Court of Appeals kay sa una ra gyud mi nag-antos ug daghan nay naapektuhan na pamilya, wala nay kasiguruhan ang kaugmaon sa among anak kung mawala ang among yuta," he added.
The B'laan tribe also went home to South Cotabato on the same day and vows to continue its fight for their rights.