Death of a Mockingbird

“Remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.”

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy… but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
– Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird



The Ati are some of the most discriminated of the indigenous peoples. Their dark skin and kinky hair, has made them fodder for disparaging remarks by a society schooled to believe that white skin is superior.

(The Ati community unites in grief)

Yet to the trained eye, they are very beautiful. Their skin is remarkably clear, and bone structures symmetrical. Being around them makes one feel a vague longing to see them smile.


By nature they are shy, childlike and docile. They avoid confrontation. The outrage Filipinos felt in the shooting of an Ati scavenger years ago in Subic, is the anger one feels when the helpless are victimized.

On Saturday, 02 March, the Ati community of Boracay buried their fallen leader, 26 year old Dexter Condez, whose efforts helped the cultural community regain a 2.1 hectare seaside property as ancestral domain.

Condez is described as a happy person, creative, intelligent and articulate. He showed leadership skills that made him popular among the island’s inhabitants.

As the funeral cortege made its way around the town, tourists stopped to stare, residents temporarily stopped activity and many of the locals paid their respects.

The town itself fell silent as three male members of the community blew on the budyong (conch shells) announcing their grief. The cortege paused briefly in front of the Crown Regency Hotel.

(The funeral cortege pauses in front of the Crown Regency Hotel as three Ati men blow on the budyong.)

Last November 4, security guards of J. King and Sons, owners of the said hotel allegedly destroyed a fence belonging to the Atis marking the boundary of their property.

Shortly after Condez’ killing, a security guard of the same hotel has been identified and charged with the murder. A claimant of the property and a lawyer for the hotel held a press conference expressing their support for the accused.

Delsa Justo, chieftain of the community, tears running down her face said in the vernacular, “We Ati do not die this way. Often we die from lack of medicines, of poverty. None of us have ever been killed this way, by the gun.”

They have been shooed away from the beaches by business owners who consider them blights and beggars. On at least one instance, a nearby resort owner shouted at them that they are bad for tourism.

(In attendance at the funeral, Sec. Joel Rocamora of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Ms. Viel Aquino of the Assisi Foundation, Atty. Trixie Angeles of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.)

Yet they are the original inhabitants of the land. Their meek nature have led them to simply leave areas of potential conflict until finally, there was no place left to go.

And though they have been awarded their property – a mere fraction of what they actually own, which is the whole island of Boracay — they have not been left in peace.

It is a sin to kill a mockingbird, a gentle creature that does no harm. Yet there are those who would rather erase the Ati from the land. Their presence is a constant reminder of the evil we have done to our fellow man.

By: Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles
(Source : PSSST! Centro)





To know more about Trixie Cruz Angeles, check out: I AM TRIXIE CRUZ