By Joel B. Belinan
The land tenure problems in Baguio and the nearby areas are complicated and unresolved even after several measures had already been made to settle these. Well, who says a century-old problem can be resolved overnight? However, when government functionaries perform their sworn duties as expected of them, the problems can be contained and not escalate. I am referring to the very good performance of Mr. Robert Domoguen, the current chief of the Baguio Animal Breeding and Research Center (BABRC) or the former Baguio Dairy Farm.
Mr. Domoguen whom I usually call Manong Robert was the long-time Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Department of Agriculture. He is now the head of BABRC since last year. Unfortunately, he inherited very complex problems from his predecessors. These relate to illegal settlers. Having been involved in the investigation of all the illegal structures in the area when I was still with the City Mayor’s Office, I am aware of the complexity of the problems. For the un-informed, the whole BABRC is composed of 93 hectares, mostly within Baguio City. A mere 7 hectares, more or less, falls within nearby Tuba municipality.
Recently, a security agency based in Mindanao with fully armed guards suddenly “invaded” (to borrow the words used by Mr. Domoguen) a 10-hectare portion of the BABRC. And this portion is even the more pristine, covered with lush vegetation. The security agency was hired by a retired Police Colonel from Pasig City who claims to have title over the portion. What is interesting is the Colonel is the son of a couple who are retired employees of the DA central office. By the looks of the stories and statements as narrated by Mr. Domoguen, the Colonel bought the 10 hectares from ancestral claimants of the BABRC. Just by looking at how the security guards numbering at least 27 forcibly entered the area, it appeared like an invasion. Especially if they were compared with the security guards engaged by the DA who were only 26 in number securing the whole BABRC or more than 100 hectares.
What was commendable was that because of his personality, Mr. Domoguen was not intimidated. He was calm and very professional in addressing the problem. If I will put myself in his shoes, things could have immediately become bloody. On the other, hand Mng. Robert and the local security people were able to face the problem without any untoward incident happening. It was amazing considering that they were facing an armed group who could be described as goons in security guard uniforms.
Mng. Robert could have chosen to just keep quiet and avoid the stress and with the current situation of hundreds of illegal settlers in the area, it would have been hard to notice. But no, he chose to face the issue head-on. He went to the City Government, both the City Mayor and the City Council, and asked for help. He also went to the Baguio Police and the Police Regional Office to meet the Regional Director. And with all these efforts, these government offices responded positively and the so-called invasion was thwarted. I also admire the way the PNP dealt with the problem. First, when the agency came with all their alleged documents, they did not argue as those were for the judiciary to evaluate. Instead, they found out that the guns the invaders had been brandishing did not have licenses and permits and, thus, were all confiscated. Second, the Police Regional Director ordered the posting of a team or a Regional Mobile force in the area to prevent a repetition of the so-called invasion. He also initiated programs to enhance or restore the eco-balance of the place through tree planting in cooperation with the DENR, PNP and other government offices. Hopefully, the current situation is an assurance the area will remain with the government and not fall into the hands of those who have money and guts to grab government property.
What happened before?
The whole land area was granted a Certificate of Ancestral Land Title (CALT) to the heirs of Ikang Paos by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) if I am not mistaken in 2008 or 2009. Of course, such issuance invited howls of protests especially from the City Government of Baguio, the Department of Agriculture, and even from some of the ancestral land claimants themselves. There were a few very controversial CALTs that were issued by the NCIP, covering the Forbes Park, the Wright Park, the Casa Vallejo area, and what was then the Baguio Dairy Farm area. Through the initiative of then-Congressman Mauricio G. Domogan (when he was still in Congress), a case was filed to nullify the titles by the Solicitor General at the Supreme Court. While the cases were pending, the ancestral claimants tried their best to sell the lands covered by those titles. Fortunately, in the case of Wright Park, and Forbes Park, the government was successful in thwarting such attempts. In the case of the Casa Vallejo area, despite its being right at the nose of the government, a building had been built there and to dater had not yet been demolished yet it has no building permit. The worst is at the now BABRC area where the ancestral claimants were very fast in selling parcels of the land to buyers, not to mention illegal or informal settlers numbering hundreds.
I remember during the 2014 investigation of the structures built on the area numbering more than 400, prominent names were included as among the owners of those illegal structures. According to information, most of those big buyers bought the lots from the claimants while many of those informal settlers were invited at high considerations or prices by land speculators who seemed to know the problematic situation in the area. In the middle of December of 2016, after years of inaction, finally, the Department of Agriculture with the backing of the City Government, a court implemented the long-overdue demolition of those structures. Unfortunately, instead of doing the demolition via a massive operation, they implemented it at a very slow pace that only a few structures were being demolished in a day. Thus, after almost a week, not even half of the structures were removed. Meantime the Christmas season came and they deemed it just proper, for humanitarian reasons, to postpone the demolition to be continued after the holidays. Fate, however, had other plans, as the sheriff tasked by the court to implement the demolition suddenly died of a heart attack during that Christmas. From 2017 until now we never heard that the court appointed another sheriff to continue the demolition. It might be necessary for the DA to undertake the needed representation. **
