Binay-an ancestral land heirs seek media help

By March Fianza

BAGUIO CITY – Heard of “kidnap for ransom myself” cases in the past. This time however, some members of the media describe this as a simple and stage-managed case of “landgrab my own ancestral land.”

Members of the Binay-an clan of Camp 7 here sought the assistance of the print and broadcast media last week after feeling helpless in their efforts to resolve an ancestral land problem with an opposing party that involved their cousin and co-heir.

Salvador Binay-an, president of the Barot Binay-an Clan Ancestral Land, Inc. has accused Angeline B. Damaso, his cousin and co-heir, for continuously negotiating with land developers and companies whose proposals were previously rejected by the heirs.

Binay-an who came with some relatives and members of the Counter Intelligence Service Group (CISG), a non government organization, apparently was left with no other choice but to face the media, albeit, emotionally and teary-eyed at certain moments.

In a press conference held at the Luisa’s Café along Session Rd., Binay-an admitted that the member-heirs of their clan granted Angeline, their co-heir and cousin, a special power of attorney (SPA) in March 1990.

In 1998, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued Certificate of Ancestral Land Claim 033 (CALC 033) in favor of the 13 heirs of Barot Binay-an. This covered an aggregate area of around 40 hectares.

Angeline who was then the holder of the SPA legally represented the Barot Binay-an heirs and received the CALC 033 in behalf of her cousins and co-heirs.

However in 2002, the clan members revoked their cousin Angeline’s SPA after they noticed that she still continued to negotiate with private entities and land developers whose proposals were previously rejected by the Binay-an heirs.

Still in 2009, Angeline Damaso, by way of the SPA that has been cancelled in 2002, successfully transferred almost 12 hectares of the 40-hectare ancestral land to the company of spouses Angel and Jane Lumpias without the clan’s permission, Binay-an explained.

The clan president said they filed cases against Angeline Damaso, Lumpias and his wife’s company, but admitted that the latter seemed to be “untouchable.”

Quoting a letter-request that he distributed to members of the media, the clan president wrote, “You can imagine this fellow can talk to any officer for (sic) offering or asking them how much do they want.”

Binay-an said the heirs were surprised why all the cases they filed against their cousin never reached the courts as these were immediately dismissed at the level of the fiscal’s office.

“This is why I am requesting for a media mileage (sic) because I believed (sic) and I have strong faith in the media that with your help (in) exposing this monster who is now trying to engulfed (sic) the entire ancestral land of Barot Binayan who are in the end will lost (sic) and be marginalized from their own legacy left by our grandfather Barot and Tongkoc Binayan…,” the clan president wrote in the same document.

Relative to the report of Binay-an, the CISG NGO confirmed that aside from a forest fire inside the disputed ancestral land at Camp 7 that occurred on March 7, 2010, earth-moving and tree-cutting activities were noticed.

Binay-an suspects, these latest incidents inside their ancestral land may be in preparation to the future sale of residential lots to innocent buyers.

Meanwhile, the CISG NGO who accompanied Binay-an to assess the forest fire were surprised why nothing was being done about such activities despite the land’s proximity to the Kennon police station.

Members of the CISG claimed they were illegally arrested by police elements, suspected as criminals and hauled to the police station along Kennon at Camp 7 for questioning, instead of being assisted in their effort to find out the origin of the forest fire.

They said however that the station commander apologized to their group, and were released from police custody after he talked to an unknown person on the phone.