Mayor: Busol demolition on despite NCIP order

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. Thursday said the demolition order on the Busol watershed illegal structures still stands despite a halt in the operations to sort out legal issues and give time for the city to improve its demolition strategy.

In a press briefing, the mayor said the city sticks by its position that no ruling from lower courts or entities can supplant or overturn the Supreme Court decision giving the city government the imprimatur to pursue the long-delayed demolition.

As this developed, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples Cordillera hearing officer Brain Masweng Friday extended the 72-hour temporary restraining order he earlier issued on the day of the demolition to stop the city’s operations, for 17 more days.

Masweng maintained the powerlessness of the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources and much more the city government under the NIPAS Act of 1992 “to evict indigenous communities from their present occupancy nor resettle them to another area without their consent.

He added owners of the Busol structures “have a clear legal right to be protected against the summary demolition of their houses as the law provides that the Indigenous Cultural Communities and the Indigenous Peoples are presumed to be holders of native titles over their ancestral claims.”

Masweng set a summary hearing on the application of the structure owners for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction on August 10.

In the same press briefing, city legal officer Melchor Carlos Rabanes said the city plans to file a contempt charge against Masweng for issuing the TRO.

He said Masweng’s position was “erroneous” and his disregard of the SC decision is “contemptuous.”

“Nothing can stop the ruling of the highest court of the land and the law has to take its course,” he said adding that the city was pursuing the demolition not for the sake of demolishing per se but for the sake of public welfare as Busol watershed is a vital water source of the city.

Rabanes said they also decided to just file a written opposition to the 72-hour TRO and opted not to attend the hearing “to avoid any technicality that their appearance in the hearing would be treated as a waiver on their right to question the legality of the proceedings.”

The dismantling operations conducted last Tuesday was met with resistance by the owners of the 33 structures eyed for destruction and by Councilor Nicasio Aliping Jr. which resulted to a melee injuring individuals including city demolition team head Engr. Nazita Banez.

The mayor said the lull in the operations would give time to the city anti-squatting team to regroup and fine tune its strategies to make the operations more peaceful and orderly.

The Supreme Court sustained the city government’s bid to demolish structures within the Busol Watershed in 2006 by reversing an earlier decision of the Court of Appeals which upheld the jurisdiction of the NCIP to issue temporary restraining orders and later a preliminary injunction to stop the implementation of the three demolition orders issued by then Mayor Braulio Yaranon for the dismantling of the illegal structures constructed by Lazaro Bawas, Alexander Ampaguey Sr. and a certain Mr. Basatan.

Structure occupants Elvin Gumangan, Narciso Basatan and Lazaro Bawas filed a petition for injunction and restraining orders before the NCIP Cordillera claiming that the lots within the watershed are their ancestral lands and that their ownership of said lots “have been expressly recognized in Proclamation No. 15 dated April 27, 1922” which declared the areas as a forest reservation.

Masweng also then granted the petition which was later upheld by the Court of Appeals.
The city government through Rabanes elevated the case to the Supreme Court contending that the NCIP has no jurisdiction to issue the restraining orders and injunction and that the city is governed by its charter and “thus, (lot occupants) cannot claim their alleged ancestral lands under the provisions of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA).”

In its decision, the higher court struck down the appellate court’s decision upholding the NCIP actions maintaining that the lot occupants’ ancestral land claim was not expressly recognized by Proclamation No. 15 which should have justified the issuances made by the NCIP.

The court said Proclamation No. 15 “does not appear to be a definitive recognition of private respondents’ ancestral land claim.”

The move to demolish the first few structures nearly turned into violence when some city councilors tried to interfere and stop the demolition team from dismantling the structures of their relatives in the restricted watershed area.

Engineer Nacita Banez, head of the demolition team, said she would file charges of conduct unbecoming of a public official and grave abuse of authority against Councilor Nicasio Aliping Jr.

The councilor allegedly caused a situation that nearly exploded into a clash between affected residents and members of the demolition team.

Before the arrival of the demolition team at the site, affected residents barricaded the road with vehicles and heavy equipment to prevent members from bringing equipment to dismantle multi-million-peso structures in the watershed.

Affected residents presented TROs issued by NCIP and this defused the tension.
The demolition was intended to prevent people from encroaching on the forested area and protect the city’s source of potable water. – With a report from Dexter See