The Boracay Ati Tribal Organization (BATO) has filed court cases against JECO Development Corporation for barricading their titled land with barbed wire and armed guards. This follows the Department of Agrarian Reform's (DAR) cancellation of Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) issued in 2018. Aklan provincial council says the titles remain valid.
Last week, BATO filed a petition for injunction at the Kalibo Regional Trial Court to stop JECO's "exclusionary acts." They also pursued a summary action at the Municipal Circuit Trial Court to assert possession and a criminal complaint for qualified trespassing to dwelling and grave coercion at the Aklan provincial prosecutor's office.
The land, CLOA 5 covering about 8,000 square meters, was awarded to 45 Ati families in 2018 by then-President Rodrigo Duterte under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. In January 2024, DAR Secretary Conrado Estrella III voided the CLOA, citing a soil analysis showing the land unsuitable for agriculture. BATO filed a motion for reconsideration, but on February 15, 2026, JECO barricaded the land with no final order issued.
"The President himself gave it to us — he put the title in our hands. Now a company with armed guards is telling us we cannot enter," said Delsa Justo, BATO tribal chieftain, in Aklanon.
On April 8, 2026, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Aklan resolved that the CLOA "remains valid" and BATO is the registered owner per OCT No. CARP2018000280. "This is not a case about complicated agrarian law. It is a case about a title and a barricade," said BATO lawyer Romy Paolo Lucion.
