City execs deny receiving Forbes Park land titles

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – City officials last week denied applying for lot titles nor receiving lot donations from the tracts of lands within the Forbes Park forest reservation recently issued Certificates of Ancestral Land Title (CALTs).

Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. Thursday brushed off said allegation broached by the Linis Gobyerno anti-graft entity as plain rumor.

He said he and the city council are one in their position of protecting the prime lot as a forest reservation and of questioning the validity of said CALTs in the light of the fact that said lot is classified as forest reservation and therefore not disposable.

The city council Monday said allegation were unfounded and tainted with “bad faith” saying it is unfair considering that the body adapted measures aimed at protecting the subject lot from incursion by private entities.

“It is impossible to happen to a situation like this where a very prime lot which we want to use for our forest will be divided by some people allegedly in the government,” Vice Mayor Daniel Farinas said.

The body decided to invite to its next session the Linis Gobyerno representatives and the editor and columnist of the newspaper where the accusation was published.

The aldermen ruled out conducting investigation to probe the claim on account that no evidence was presented to support it.

A proposal also cropped up to declare Odelle Aquino, Linis Gobyero Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices director who wrote and published the letter, as persona non grata for making and publishing an unfounded claim.

The proposal was referred to a committee while the body served intentions to include other personalities who may be found liable in the issuance of the CALTs to the persona non grata list.
This developed after Councilor Antonio Tabora Jr. presented to the body data proving that indeed CALTs were issued covering 23 hectares of lot within the reservation.
The documents also showed pending applications for CALTs complete with the names of the applicants and numbering around 140 waiting for action by the NCIP.

“The documents provided by Councilor Tabora showed that with the issuance of the title would mean that officials who processed and approved the applications were aware that the area is covered by a title in the name of the Republic of the Philippines. No doubt that there is some corruption and bad faith (in the act),” Councilor Palaganas said.

The body only recently invited the heads of the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to shed light on reports that some portions of the Forbes Park reservation had been issued titles in favor of the heirs of Lauro Carantes as confirmed by Register of Deeds Juanito Ampaguey.

The meeting prompted the body to urge the two agencies to stop accepting applications for ancestral land claims and to suspend processing of pending applications until the Supreme Court issue a definite ruling on whether Baguio City is covered by the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA).

The body also opposed the titles issued to the Carantes clan through an adverse annotation while it also sought to suspend the approval of locational clearance, development permit and building permit to lands covered by ancestral land titles is now under study by the body.

The body also approved the creation of a committee composed of the city legal officer, planning officer, city assessor and city engineer to conduct an investigate the lot 1 of Forbes Park to establish the metes and bounds of the area and those portions which have already been titled.