Ati tribe spokesman shot dead in Boracay

source: gmanetwork.com

A spokesperson for Boracay Ati Tribal Organization (BATO), was gunned down by an unidentified gunman after attending a meeting in Brgy. Balabag on the famous island resort of Boracay Friday night.

Citing initial information, a report on Bombo Radyo said the victim, Dexter Condez, 26, was walking on his way home to Brgy. Manoc-Manoc when an unidentified man shot him several times.

Dexter Condez. Photo from his Facebook account

On his Facebook account, Condez's last public post says: "BOD members meeting later."

Condez sustained multiple gunshot wounds, the report said, adding that five empty shells of still undetermined type of firearm were found at the crime scene.

Meanwhile, residents in the area claimed they heard eight gunshots, the report said.

Police are still investigating the incident.

Ancestral Domain

In a separate interview on Bombo Radyo, Fr. Arnold Crisostomo, parish priest of Boracay, said the death of Condez may have something to do with the November 4, 2012 incident, where the Ati Community in Brgy. Manoc-Manoc was harassed by armed men allegedly upon the order of a businessman on the island resort.

Condez was the spokesperson of BATO, who has been fighting for the ancestral domain of the Ati Community in Boracay.

According to the report, a part of the land granted to the community was owned by the businessman.

Last January 21, 2011, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) granted the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) to BATO for the land that 40 Ati families (some 200 members) the tribe considers as their ancestral domain.
source: gmanetwork.com