On Boracay island in the Phillipines, pristine forests and beaches attract hundreds of thousands of tourists every year, filling business and government coffers with more than $250 million annually.

But some residents believe the government has trampled their rights in its effort to harness that economic power.

Members of the small Ati tribe, who claim to be Boracay's original inhabitants, are fighting along with other long-time island families to stake a claim to their piece of paradise.

Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas reports.