The Baguio City Council has called on the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples-Cordillera Administrative Region (NCIP-CAR) to act promptly on the Certificate of Ancestral Land Title (CALT) applications within the 139-hectare identified for city needs.
The said land straddles portions of Barangays Sto. Tomas, Camp 7, and Bakakeng Norte/Sur.
During the city council’s regular session last February 20, NCIP-CAR lawyer Severino Lumiqued reported that there are 12 pending CALT applications covering portions of the 139-ha land.
The said land has been identified as a multi-land use area for the city through Resolution Numbered 243, Series of 2011.
Lumiqued said the total area of lands being applied for within the multi-land use area has yet to be determined by their office.
Members of the city council asserted that these ancestral land claims must be acted upon at the soonest possible time “for the benefit of the city and the claimants.”
Emphasizing the urgency to identify a site within the 139-ha land for the construction of the city’s solid waste management facility, Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda asked if NCIP-CAR has a “timetable” for the processing of these CALT applications.
“We have to resolve these land claims immediately so that the city can also act on the city’s need for a sanitary landfill… As much as possible, we don’t want to make a decision that will adversely affect the legitimate claims of certain individuals,” Tabanda said.
Lumiqued admitted there is no timetable yet for the processing of these CALT applications as land claimants are still being given a “leeway” to prove their ownership over the applied areas. Also, some of these applications have been stalled due to the continuous revision of the NCIP’s guidelines, he added.
Asked how their office will act on these CALT applications in light of the Supreme Court ruling (G.R. No. 208480) that the NCIP has no legal power to issue CALTs covering lands that are part of the Baguio Townsite Reservation, Lumiqued said they will process them after determining whether these applications cover areas with prior land rights.
Prior land rights, according to Lumiqued, are those that are recognized by the defunct special task force on ancestral lands, those issued with certificates of ancestral land claims (CALCs) by the DENR, and those with favorable resolutions but were not issued CALCs because they were overtaken by the enactment of Republic Act No. 8371 or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA).
Earlier, Atty. Arthur Herman, another NCIP-CAR lawyer, told the august body that their office will formulate special guidelines for the resumption of issuance of CALTs and Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) in the city.
These special guidelines will spell out the “other processes” that were not elaborated by Section 78 of the IPRA nor by the Supreme Court.
Section 78 (Special Provision) of the IPRA states that “the City of Baguio shall remain to be governed by its Charter and all lands proclaimed as part of its townsite reservation shall remain as such until otherwise reclassified by appropriate legislation.”
The aforementioned provision, however, added that “prior land rights and titles recognized and/or acquired through any judicial, administrative or OTHER PROCESSES before the effectivity of this Act shall remain valid: Provided, further, that this provision shall not apply to any territory which becomes part of the City of Baguio after the effectivity of this Act.”
Councilor Jose Molintas claimed that Section 78 “cues historical injustice to indigenous peoples in Baguio City who have been deprived of recognition of their rights.”
Agreeing with Molintas, Lumiqued said Section 78 should not have been included as a special provision of IPRA and that Section 56 of the same law “should have been enough.”
Section 56 provides that “property rights within the ancestral domains already existing and/or vested upon effectivity of this Act, shall be recognized and respected.”
In aid of legislation, the city council requested NCIP-CAR to provide the august body a list of all CALT applications within the 139-ha land including its technical description and the map indicating the areas covered by these CALT applications. **Jordan G. Habbiling
