Ibalois hit NCIP for cancellation of ancestral land titles

Ibalois hit NCIP for cancelled titles

November 23, 2014 

By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Ibaloi ancestral land claimants and their lawyers are up in arms when the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) issued a resolution to cancel their ancestral land and domain titles after these had undergone the required and legal processes mandated by RA 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997.

IBALOI CLAIMANTS. (From left to right) Mrs. Pacita Medina holds their Happy Hallow ancestral domain title issued and signed by all the commissioners of the NCIP. Also in the picture: their legal counsel former Benguet Board Member Manuel Cuilan and Chona Kubulan Espina (with eyeglasses) who represents the Kellet clan of Dagsian barangay. Photo by Arthur L. Allad-iw

In a press conference Wednesday, they scored that a resolution by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) dated October 8 undermined the IPRA law and had denied them due process as the cancellation was done without giving them time to present their side, nor informing them of the cancellation and their grounds thereof.

NCIP Commission En Banc Resolution 06-086-2014 ordered cancelled Ancestral Land Titles (ALT) 000302, 000303, and 000304. The agency said that these ALTs are unaccounted for and considered lost, and the resolution created an investigation team to look into the matter.

Atty. Alfonso Aroco, counsel of the owners, said that ALT 000302 is located in the area now occupied by Casa Vallejo and was awarded to the heirs of Cosen Piraso, ALT 000302 is located in Pacdal and was awarded to the heirs of Josephine M. Abanag, and ALT 000304 is located in South Drive and was awarded to the heirs of Lauro Carantes.

He added that after complying with the processes mandated by the IPRA law, these ALTs were awarded to the claimants in November 2010. These titles were registered at the Register of Deeds of this city in that same year.

It was learned that before the ALTs were awarded to the owners, they had undergone the processes on ancestral land claims as per DENR Administrative Order Number 2 and, as a consequence, granted Certificate of Ancestral Land Claims (CALCs), which under the 1997 IPRA mandated the NCIP, as to its ministerial function, to convert it to ALTs.

“In fact, these claims are among the original Ibaloi claims recognized in 1937,” Aroco explained in a press conference on Wednesday.

If it is indeed true that these are unaccounted and missing, why let the beneficiaries suffer from a misdeed not of their own making, added Aroco where he reiterated that an investigation instead must be done for those responsible of the lost ALTs. He added that the said instruments were kept by the NCIP Ancestral Domain Office and the investigation should be done against them instead of punishing the beneficiaries by cancelling their legally acquired title.

We will file appropriate charges if the said office does not rectify its mistake, he said.

Cancellations via the court

In the same press conference, Ibalois who acquired ALTs over their ancestral land and domain title also criticized the move to have their titles cancelled.

Lawyer Manuel Cuilan explained that the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) which manages the former American military base – now Club John Hay – filed a case of cancellation of ALTs to the heirs of Kellet and Morie Shodang whose ancestral lands are claimed by BCDA as part of the former military base. He added that even the Ancestral Domain Title (ADT) granted to indigenous peoples of Happy Hallow is included for cancellation by the case filed by the BCDA, through the office of the Solicitor General.

Cuilan said that the case was filed at the Regional Trial Court in Baguio City which decided that it has no jurisdiction over the case as it is under the NCIP. BCDA appealed to the Court of Appeals where the said court decided in upholding the RTC Baguio decision, and not contented with it, they went to the Supreme Court reiterating that the RTC has jurisdiction and must decide on their petition.

Cuilan pointed out that the move is unnecessarily exhausting the resources of the government. Both offices, the BCDA and the NCIP are under the office of the president which could have facilitated dialogue to resolve the matter and not put the two agencies on different sides of the coin.

“The NCIP, after the beneficiaries had undergone the IPRA processes, granted the said ALTs and ADT, and here is the another office under the Office of the President moving for the cancellation of these titles,” he explained to media adding: this is another injustice to the Ibalois who exerted their resources and all their effort for the land that they are historically entitled to.

The Ancestral Domain Title for Happy Hallow was granted based on the claims of the six clans, namely, Canuto, Ciso, Pitlongay, Paytocan, Liwan, and Otinguey for a total land area of more or less 146 hectares. Representing the Otinguey clan, Pacita S. Medina said that the move to cancel is unfair for indigenous people.

“If they had any opposition to our claims, why did they fail to raise it when we were processing our title? They were there during the surveys and other activities during our application,” she pointed out in the conference. Their ancestral domain sustainable development program was even recognized by the City Council.

Chona Kubulan Espina, who represents the Kellet clan in Dagsian Barangay, also narrated the act of BCDA prohibiting development of their ancestral lands despite their tiles. And like Medina, she claimed that there were no consultations done with them before the move for the cancellation of their titles was made.

Making the situation tense, they alleged that a commissioner of the NCIP, in a meeting, told them that their titles are to be cancelled as these are just pieces of paper and she (commissioner) even got the nerve to shout at them.

Cuilan said that this move is not correcting the historical injustice of denying the Ibalois of their rights to their ancestral land and domains. The NCIP was primarily established to work for the interests of indigenous peoples, he added.

He hit the present administration that while the Carino Doctrine started in this city where the American Court declared that lands possessed by indigenous peoples never became public and privately owned, it is not applied in the city where the case originated. # nordis.net