CADT of the Subanen People finally awarded

After more than a decade of fighting for the recognition of their ancestral domains, the Subanen people of Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte finally received their Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) last June 6, 2003. In an auspicious affair held at the Siocon town center, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assisted by NCIP Chairperson Atty. Reuben Dasay-Lingating, himself a native Subanen; officially awarded the long awaited CADT to Timuay Boy Anoy, the head of the Siocon Subanen Association, the local Peoples Organization which spearheaded the long struggle to recover and protect the traditional lands of the Indigenous Subanen.
The Subanen ancestral domain has long been the subject of a bitter feud between the local people and the Canadian-based Toronto Ventures, Inc. engaged in the exploration of gold deposits in Siocon. The Subanen people have consistently protested the awarding of a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement in favor of the TVI, claiming that the MPSA was illegally secured as the TVI had not secured a Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) from the affected communities. Furthermore, the Subanen aside from expressing their fears with the irreparable impact of the TVI activities to the environment, claimed that unwarranted operations of the multi-national company has caused deep divisions and conflict among the once tightly-knit Subanen communities.

It is hoped that the awarding of the Siocon CADT to the Subanen people by no less than the resident of the Philippines lays the framework of the Governments policy towards the current conflict between the Mineral industry and the Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines. PAFID