Aetas lift blockade set along Mt. Pinatubo trail
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO–More than 50 Aetas from the uplands of Capas town in Tarlac province have lifted their barricade on a hiking trail leading to the crater of Mt. Pinatubo, but they continue to demand that authorities reinstate their five leaders.
“Minyabat kami ania mung Biyernes Santo kaibat ala na (We blocked the tourists only last Good Friday, and that was it),” Samuel Ocampo said when reached by the Inquirer on Thursday through a phone call facilitated by Aeta leader Chito Balintay.
Ocampo said he was one of the 37 signatories to a 2023 memorandum of agreement regarding the sharing of proceeds from the P700 fee paid by tourists using the Sta. Juliana trail.
Lt. Col. Jovy Arceo, Capas police chief, said she “brought” the protesting Aetas to the town’s police station on April 18, Good Friday, to facilitate a dialogue with local officials.
She said police should have made arrests for alleged grave coercion of tourists who reached Sitio Tarukan at 10:50 a.m. Police detained Jober Ocampo, Joseph Cosme, Bayani and Alma Sumaoang, and Levi David — all from Sta. Juliana, the nearest village to the northern side of the 3-kilometer, bean-shaped crater.
Money matters
Ocampo said his group had gone three times to the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples’ (NCIP) Central Luzon office to appeal for the reinstatement of Adonis Ocampo, Robert Sanchez, Julie Dumolot, Lorna de la Cruz and Orling Cosme to the list of recognized “landowners.”
In a separate phone interview, Victor Valantin, the Indigenous Peoples’ Mandatory Representative in the Capas legislative council, said he removed the five Aetas from the list because four of them live in Botolan, Zambales, and one in San Clemente, also in Tarlac.
Ocampo argued that the five “own land” along a portion of the trail, and their monetary shares were considered payment for passage rights.
“I managed to raise the shares from 10 percent to 75 percent,” Valantin said, adding that the four should receive their share of tourism proceeds from Botolan.
“Even their relatives on the [Sta. Juliana] trail reported not receiving their shares,” he told the Inquirer.
According to Valantin, the dispute highlights a larger issue. “In 2024 alone, the shares amounted to P4.5 million. Members of the [Aeta] clans are demanding their rightful shares,” he said.
Lawyer Atanacio Addog, NCIP regional director, did not respond to calls and text messages from the Inquirer on Thursday.
The municipal legal officer of Capas has yet to clarify how the local government is helping resolve the feud among the Aetas.
The crater lake emerged after Mt. Pinatubo erupted on June 15, 1991. The volcano lies within the 15,998 hectares covered by Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) R03-BOT-0708-073. The CADT is registered as Original Certificate of Title No. CAD-0-1.
The CADT, given to Botolan Aeta in 2009, spans the villages of Burgos, Villar, Moraza, and Belbel in Botolan, as well as portions of the towns of Cabangan, San Felipe and San Marcelino, all in Zambales. The late Aeta leader Carlito Domulot counted 1,302 families as beneficiaries.
