BEHIND THE SCENES

Still on controversial Bontoc land title
Alfred P. Dizon

We received an e-mail from Bontoc, Mountain Province resident writer Rommel Lengwa on updates of a controversial “certificate of land ownership award” given to a certain Erickson Akiate et. Al. For those who were not able to follow up this story in this paper, the issue is about the CLOA issued to the awardees which is now being questioned by ancestral land owners of the sizable lot.

This could be happening in other parts of Northern Luzon if not the country hence we deem the issue important for printing. Lengwa’s email:

As agreed upon during the last conference in Bontoc called by Mayor Franklin C. Odsey on August 31,20-07, Department of Agrarian Reform officials headed by provincial agrarian reform officer Deogracias Almora made good their ten days commitment given them when they were able to present and discuss with the municipal mayor and the members of the Sangguniang Bayan on Sept. 10 the result of their homework.

During an earlier conference, DAR officials were given ten days to cancel the CLOA as demanded by Samoki lot owners or bring to the attention of higher DAR authorities the matter.

The DAR provincial executive said he discussed with the DAR regional director and other concerned authorities of the agency the request for the cancellation of the controversial CLOA.

According to Almora, “cancellation of the mother CLOA is made possible even without landowners filing a petition. But, it must undergo a due process.Grounds for the cancellation must first be established so I was advised by higher authorities to conduct an inquiry to substantiate the petition and other related documents necessary to be submitted to the adjudication board of the agency.”

Asked how long the inquiry will take, Almora promised to do it in ten days as requested by the DAR regional director. Former mayor Alfonso Kiat-ong, Sr. had suggested the filing of a court case to hasten the cancellation process.

SB member Cyrill Bacala who chaired the proceedings asked the DAR executive if his office had received other petitions related to the case. In response, Almora explained that in his two years stay as provincial head of DAR-Mountain Province, the only document his office received was a resolution from Barangay Samoki officials requesting DAR to subdivide the lots covered under the mother CLOA and issue the individual titles to the rightful lot owners.

“I assumed office last June 2005 and upon checking the lots covered by the CLOA, a lot of changes was observed. A lot of houses mushroomed, a concern that needs to be considered in the inquiry aside from the fact that we are running out of time,” he said.

Aware of the various legal technicalities involved, Mayor Franklin C. Odsey urged the group to seek the assistance of a competent lawyer saying even if he was not a lawyer, he could see there was a need for a competent lawyer to assist and facilitate in the orderly resolution of the case.

Arthur Culallad, the SB secretary meanwhile said the “resolution of the Samoki officials requesting legislative intervention on the cancellation of the subject CLOA was deferred since concerned barangay officials must first do their part.”

In latest development, a representative lawyer from Manila had just arrived in town to meet with concerned Samoki lot owners to help them.