Business · Philippines Bureau
Zambales Aeta community marks ancestral lands amid domain dispute
Indigenous Aeta members in Zambales have begun fencing portions of Mt. Bagang to assert territorial claims, challenging a private company's forest plantation development despite official findings that the projects do not overlap.
LSN Philippines ·
SAN ANTONIO, ZAMBALES — Aeta community members commenced fencing operations on Mt. Bagang in San Marcelino on Sunday, asserting that the mountain territory forms part of their ancestral domain and traditional homeland.
The fencing initiative represents a direct challenge to a private forest plantation company's development plans in the area. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources previously determined that the company's application does not intersect with any officially recognized Certificate of Ancestral Domain.
The Aeta action underscores tensions between indigenous land claims and commercial forestry interests in the region. Indigenous communities across the Philippines have increasingly sought to formalize and defend ancestral domain boundaries as pressures from resource extraction and development projects intensify.
The DENR's assessment suggested the projects operate in separate zones, yet the Aeta community's ground-level fencing indicates disputed interpretations of territorial boundaries. The outcome of this assertion of indigenous rights may depend on further documentation of the Aeta's ancestral claims and government review of the competing land designations.
The dispute reflects broader challenges in the Philippines regarding the recognition and protection of indigenous territorial rights in resource-rich areas where commercial interests also seek development opportunities.