Staff writer, with CNA
The Kaohsiung City Government on Saturday presented certificates of land ownership to 60 Aboriginal households to enable them to recover the rights they once held to traditional tribal lands.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) handed out the certificates for 110 plots covering 100 hectares during a ceremony held for the Aboriginal households.
Over the past 70 years, many of the lands reserved for Aborigines that were passed down from their ancestors have been administered by the National Property Administration or the Forestry Bureau, Chen said.
Aboriginal communities previously could only apply to reclaim lands to which they were entitled if they could produce official documents, Chen added.
This made it almost impossible to reclaim their lands, because most people had not kept official land documents required by the government, Chen said.
However, after joint efforts by the central and local governments, the ownership rights of Aboriginal lands can now be restored.
The city government is still reviewing records on the ownership claims by Aborigines to 17 plots covering about 50 hectares, Chen said.
The last time Kaohsiung issued certificates of land ownership to Aborigines was in 1973.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) on Saturday said that his municipal government was accelerating administrative procedures to help return traditional lands to their owners.
The Taichung City Government said it has issued certificates of land ownership for 289 plots to their Aboriginal owners.
New Taipei City Indigenous Peoples Department Director Dongi Alin (楊馨怡) said the city has been working hard to help Aborigines get their land ownership rights back.
Dongi Alin also suggested that the Council of Indigenous Peoples should scrap a regulation that stipulates Aborigines must use land for five years before they can acquire ownership of it.
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