No discrimination of ancestral land claimants: mayor

By Dexter A. See 

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said the city government is not discriminating ancestral land claimants, especially the Ibalois, in the distribution of lands in the city, saying that the law should be equally applicable to everyone whether or not they are members of indigenous cultural communities.

            

“We do not discriminate anybody, especially in the distribution of alienable and disposable lands in the different parts of the city,” Domogan stressed, citing that ancestral claims should be given to legitimate ancestral land claimants pursuant to Section 78 of Republic Act (RA) 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act that covers the city in a special situation.

            

While it is true that the Ibalois were the first inhabitants of Baguio City, Domogan argued that it does not mean that they own the lands in Baguio City considering that there were unforeseen events that happened along the way leading them to sell their properties to other lowland and highland people thereby making the city a domain of mixed culture of people.

            

IPRA continues to recognize the Charter of Baguio City and all lands continue to remain under its townsite reservation, provided that all rights over the lands which were previously recognized by quasai-judicial bodies and the courts prior to the effectivity of the law shall remain valid.

            

Domogan explained there is no question being raised to ancestral land claims which are in accordance to the IPRA provisions because they remain valid and must be awarded to the qualified and legitimate claimants but the problem lies with the purported ancestral land claims that filed to pass through the usual process and does not qualify to be ancestral land claims as per the IPRA provisions.

            

Contrary to the imputations being hurled by his critics that he is against the certificate of ancestral land title issued to Happy Hallow, Domogan pointed out that from the very start, he supported the CADT of Happy Hallow until the same was issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

            

The local chief executive also supported the reconstitution of the Baguio Ancestral lands Clearing Committee (BALCC) that is mandated to screen all applications for ancestral land claims in the city prior to the approval of the NCIP in order to guarantee that those being processed by the agency have initially passed the requisites of the law.

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We will continue to equally apply the provisions of the law to everyone in order to prevent allegations of special treatment being given to some tribes or groups,” Domogan said, citing that some groups are very vocal against the policies of the local government because they want to be given special treatment in the application of existing laws and regulations.

            

Domogan remains firm on his earlier stand that there was no discrimination against the Ibalois or lowland people in the strict sense of the provisions of the law on ancestral claims, thus, the city government maintains its stand that only those ancestral claims that were recognized prior to November 1997 are valid, thus, the ancestral claimants should be given what are rightfully due them.

He asserted the conversion of some parts of Forbes Park into resettlement areas were the recommendation of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to serve its current state.