By Manny Piñol
The Ati Tribe of Boracay Island will no longer be just hawkers and spectators to the thriving tourism industry in their ancestral land which benefits big businessmen because they too will be part of the booming tourism industry when the popular world vacation destination reopens on Oct. 26 this year.
At 10 a..m. today, I and a team of experts from the Department of Agriculture (DA) will meet with the Ati residents of Boracay in the 2-hectare area, which they have long fought for to remain in their hands, to launch a program which would turn their land into an agro-tourism destination.
The program will be part of the 4Ks Program of the DA or Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran ng Kababayang Katutubo which I personally conceptualized and designed so that the long marginalized and neglected Tribal People of the country will be brought into the mainstream of society and contribute to the country’s food production program.
In other Ancestral Domain areas where the Tribes own vast lands, the 4Ks Program includes the planting of industrial trees like Falcata and Gmelina to be intercropped with Coffee, Cacao, Black Pepper or Abaca and rootcrops like organic Ube and Camote.
The estimates made by DA agriculture experts showed that after two years, the 4Ks Program will start earning at least P100,000 per hectare per year for a Tribal Family with the bulk of the income coming on the 5th year when the industrial trees are harvested and expected to earn at least P1-M per hectare.
In Boracay where the Ati, who once upon a time owned the whole island but now have been squeezed into a two-hectare area which they have fought hard to retain, will become part of a variant of the 4Ks Program.
Part of the two-hectare area of the Boracay Ati will be transformed into a vegetable production area using a solar-powered greenhouse and dairy goat milk parlor while a portion will be used for the establishment of an Organic Restaurant or eatery where indigenous food recipes could be offered to tourists.
With funds coming from the DA and assisted by workers of the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), a tribal-inspired hostel complete with facilities for trainings and seminars will also be established.
The whole area is envisioned to become a tourist destination in itself with the Ati people benefitting from the influx of tourists who I believe would be interested to have a taste of indigenous food recipes, stay in a tribal-designed hostel or have a taste of organically produced milk and dairy products.
Many more would be visiting the area mainly to share and contribute to the effort of this government to make the long neglected people like the Ati feel that they too are part of the dream of President Rody Duterte of a better life and better future.
For the workers of the Department of Agriculture, the launching of the 4Ks Program for the Ati of Boracay today will be our special project as we celebrate the 120th Anniversary of the department.
Last year, June 23, the DA launched the Easy Access Credit Program called Production Loan Easy Access (PLEA) in Malimono, Surigao del Norte to address the fishermen and farmers’ need for production funds.
Today, the Philippine Statistics Authority has identified the PLEA as a successful program which greatly contributed to food production and poverty alleviation.
It is my dream that the 4Ks Program for the Ati Tribe of Boracay will have the same impact as the PLEA on their lives.
(First two photos which were downloaded from the websites of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Rappler show the struggle of the Ati of Boracay to defend a piece of land they live in. Succeeding photos were taken by Alan Jay Jacalan of the Dept. of Agriculture AFID who flew to Boracay yesterday ahead of the Biyaheng Bukid event today which will be participated in by the Ati people and the workers of the DA.)
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