Clark Field, Pampanga, Jan. 17, 1998 - Hundreds of Aeta families have been given back their ancestral land totalling 5,515 hectares inside Clark Field.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources finally released the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claims of the Bamban Aeta Tribal Association.
Erlinda Dolandolan, regional director of the Office of Northern Cultural Communities, said in an interview that the Aeta territory covers nearly 20% of the entire 30,000-hectare Clark subzone.
The tribal organization plans to make their newly reclaimed land productive by engaging in vegetable, fruit and tree farming.
A spokesman of the tribes said the Aetas had waited for nearly a hundred years to claim their land which they had inherited from their forebears, the original Filipino settlers.
"The return of our ancestral lands proved that the government treats everyone equally," he said.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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