Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda requested the Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC) to suspend the collection of payments from the members of Kias United Mountaineers Association Inc. (KUMAI) pending the resolution of the courts on land dispute cases.
During the city council’s regular session last Monday, Tabanda said it is unfair for the HGC to continue collecting payment from the association as it is not able to execute deeds of absolute sale to the members due to the ongoing litigation.
“Isn’t it possible to request your management for a moratorium until you get the go signal?” Tabanda pleaded.
Romel Molina, HGC representative, said he would relay the councilor’s request to theit higher ups.
Molina claimed they are confident the courts would rule in their favor. He assured the association that the HGC will eventually transfer to the members the ownership of the land being sold to them.
The HGC representative told the city council that the HGC had issued certificates of full payment to the KUMAI members who had fully paid.
Pablo Ocyo, KUMAI President, rebuked the HGC for refusing to release the individual titles of the KUMAI members who had fully completed their payment for the purchase of the lot they are currently occupying.
“Singil kayo nang singil pagkatapos ‘yung titulo ayaw ninyong ibigay. Humingi pa kami ng discount pero ayaw ninyong magbigay. Pagkatapos kami pa ang iniipit ninyo. Anong klaseng agency kayo? Ilang taon na kaming naghihintay!” the disgruntled president exclaimed.
In his letter dated January 6, 2022, Pablo requested the city council to intercede for the association regarding the matter.
Councilor Fred Bagbagen, however, told the association that the city council could not act on Pablo’s request due to the ongoing litigation.
“Since there are pending cases, we cannot grant your request. We could not pre-empt the courts, or else we might be cited for contempt,” Bagbagen stated.
KUMAI, HGC vs. LRBAI
The land being claimed by the KUMAI is described under Lot 8, Psd CAR-000905 and is registered in the name of the Republic of the Philippines under TCT No. T-40531 of the Registry of Deeds of Baguio City.
The said land consisting of more or less 134,857 square meters is the same land being claimed by the Land Reform Beneficiaries Association, Inc. (LRBAI) and is the subject of several court cases.
The LRBAI has filed a suit for injunction before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 6 for the HGC, KUMAI, and the Kias Livelihood Association to refrain from surveying, subdividing, and processing the conveyance of, among others, several lots including the one covered by TCT No. T-40531 until such time that the claims of the LRBAI have been surveyed, segregated, and identified based on the decision of RTC Branch 59.
The pending case before the RTC Branch 59 is on the issuance of a survey authority for the delineation and identification of the lots being claimed by the LRBAI.
On July 25, 1979, three parcels of land were reserved as Bagong Lipunan Sites by virtue of Proclamation No. 1875, series of 1979. The lands occupied and improved by the LRBAI are covered by the proclamation.
The HGC is the administrator of the land covered by the proclamation tasked to dispose, construct, develop, or alter any part of the areas concerned provided that it shall not be used for any purpose other than residential.
The LRBAI asserted that they have rights over the lots they are claiming since they have been there long before the proclamation was issued. The proclamation states that lands covered by the same are “subject to private rights if any there be.”
Furthermore, the association claimed that the HGC has no authority to dispose of the lands occupied by the LRBAI since the members have “private rights” as the original settlers.
To date, the HGC does not recognize the existence and claims of the LRBAI. It has instead sold the parcels of land to other claimants such as the KUMAI.
During the council session on December 13, 2021, HGC lawyer Kristopher Navales said the LRBAI failed to prove their ownership over the lot either as land reform beneficiaries or ancestral land claimants.
Navales asserted that the association had not produced any legitimate document such as a land reform certificate and a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) or a certificate of ancestral land title (CALT).
“Why put ‘land reform’ in your name when you are not a land reform organization? Why claim that you are members of the indigenous peoples [with rights to the land] when you cannot provide a single document issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)?” Navales stated.
“We cannot entrust this big chunk of land to an organization that has a dubious claim,” he added.
The HGC lawyer further explained that, unlike the LRBAI members, other occupants within the area covered by the proclamation were able to legitimize their claims and negotiate with the HGC for a reasonable price. **Jordan G. Habbiling
