Titling of Baguio lots, parks getting more controversial

EDITORIAL

National government offices like the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples are now issuing titles over prime lots like those over parks and forests reservations in Baguio City raising a howl among city officials.

The government offices are supposed to be performing only their mandate and beneficiaries of these titles are supposed to be members of indigenous tribes particularly Ibalois.

But then, according to city officials, Kankanaeys, like those from Mountain Province have been granted titles over prime lots in areas like the Busol watershed, the city’s main water resource. They want an investigation and if there are indeed spurious titles, they wasn’t these revoked.

            

The issuance of such titles has alarmed the city government prompting Mayor Mauricio Domogan to form a technical working group to evaluate applications for Certificate of Ancestral Land Titles (CALTs) in the city.

           

Domogan recently convened the group and tasked the NCIP-Cordillera Administrative Region represented by lawyer Bernadette Badecao to submit a list of all pending CALT applications which will be inventoried and evaluated by the TWG.

            

The mayor said the TWG will tackle only  problematic applications or the ones located in government reservations, parks and road right-of-ways and those which do not qualify under section 78 of the Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA).

            

“The legitimate claims, by all means let’s endorse for titling but not those questionable ones,” he told the group.

            

The mayor formed the TWG through Administrative Order No. 114 issued last August 29 as a safeguard against the spurious issuance of CALTs over protected areas as what happened in reservations like the Forbes Park, Botanical Garden, Wright Park, portions of Busol watershed, Loakan airport and Casa Vallejo along Upper Session Road.

The group is headed by city mayor’s office executive assistant with representatives from the SP Committee on Urban Planning, Lands and Housing, NCIP, Lands Management Services, Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera Administrative Region, City Assessor’s Office, City Planning and Development Office and the president of the Ligang mga Barangay as members.

            

The mayor gave the group 90 days to conduct an inventory of all approved and pending applications for CALTs in the city and to evaluate the pending CALTs and ascertain whether these qualify under section 78 of the IPRA.

The TWG was also tasked to recommend to the city mayor and to the city council steps to be undertaken to resolve problems created by approved and pending CALTs.

            

The mayor has maintained that legitimate ancestral claims are Igorot claims classified as alienable as ancestral land as per section 78 of Republic Act No. 8371 or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act.

            

The said section provides a special provision that the city of Baguio “shall remain to be governed by its Charter and all lands proclaimed as part of its townsite reservation shall remain as such until otherwise reclassified by appropriate legislation..”

            

Section 78 also provides an exemption that “prior land rights and titles recognized and/or acquired through any judicial, administrative or other processes before the effectivity of this Act shall remain valid…” which means that Igorot claims recognized before November 1997, the date of IPRA implementation, are qualified as ancestral claims.

            

Among those recognized are Igorot ancestral claims screened under Special Administrative Order No. 31 and Dept. Administrative Order No. 02 issued by the Dept. and Environment and Natural Resources.

            

The mayor said all claims that fall under these circumstances are recognized by the city. Meanwhile, government line agencies are still issuing titles and the situation is getting more muddled by the day.