Ibaloi councilor supports IPs on lands controversy

BAGUIO CITY – Despite pronouncements of city officials that ancestral land claimants in this summer capital are a serious problem,a city councilor who belongs to the Ibaloi tribe said they are just asserting their rights voer their lands.   

Recommendations and legislative measures were brought to the attention of the council on indigenous people’s (IP) ancestral lands in a privilege speech by Councilor Isabelo Cosalan, Jr. during its session last week.

The councilor reacted to news reports “that IP ancestral land claims …are the most serious problem the city and its people are facing today.”

He said IPs are “asserting their lawful rights over their patrimony, and are also primary stakeholders of the city. The IPs need   not be feared, hated or blamed.” 

The situation should be a “wake-up call for  the city to re-examine its vision-mission-goals to truly reflect the aspiration of its people in a fast changing world,” Cosalan, Jr. added.

There have been situations too where portions of a declared forest reservation has been withdrawn for settlement or for residential purposes.

Or of migrants invading a watershed “without even a slap on the wrist,” the councilor said.

His recommendations thus, for legislative measures are for the city not to blame IP ancestral land claimants but formulate plans actions as to legal means; for it to recognize and include ancestral lands covered by appropriate ancestral land titles into the City Land Use Plan (CLUP), sectoral studies, and reiterated in the Zoning ordinance; and, implement resolution 399, series of 2009 which recognizes barangay Happy Hallow as the lone ancestral domain in the city.

The councilor recommended through an ordinance the creation and funding of an indigenous peoples affairs unit under the city planning and development office; the declaration of Happy Hallow barangay as ancestral domain; the inclusion of an ancestral land zone and IP sector in the CLUP and sectoral studies.

He also urged creation of a resolution requesting Mayor Mauricio Domogan to reconstitute a technical working group to evaluate and render recommendations on applications for Certificate of Ancestral Land Title (CALT) over areas in the city; guidelines for the issuance of development and related permits and clearances over lands covered by CALTs or Certificates of Ancestral Land Domain (CADTs).

Councilor Cosalan, Jr. also recommended for a city council IP sectoral representative, preferably from the Ibaloi tribe.

The appointment should be subject to existing national laws, policies and guidelines and other requirements.

The councilor also recommended a resolution urging Congress through the city’s lone representative Nicasio Aliping, Jr. and chair of the house committee on national cultural communities to cause approval of an amendment to CALTs being issued.

CALTs, he said, should be annotated with a prohibition to sell or transfer within ten (10) years, “for the main reason of giving sufficient time for the city government to acquire all or portions thereof needed for public use, particularly those within reservations not classified as alienable and disposable.”

Lastly, the councilor recommended that claimants of lands covered by CALTs formulate their respective Ancestral Land Sustainable Development Protection Plan (ALSDPP) “as basic requisite to any development activity including the issuance of tax declaration.”