Typhoon Pirazo

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Roger Sinot

ASIN HOT SPRINGS, Tuba, Benguet- Let me share copy of contents of a Certificate of Ancestral Land Titles, commonly called as CALT that every ancestral claimant dreams of.

Most of the 854 ancestral land claimants of Baguio that have originated from the 48” Igorot Claims” have still their folders in the Ncip-Baguio office for almost a decade after they were turned over by the Depat. of Environment and Natural Resources . One by one, the claimants and their heirs died without seeing the fruits of their efforts to have their lands be titled.

Here is the contents of a CALT, “ Know all men by these presents: Whereas, pursuant to the mandates of the 1987 Philippine Constitution to protect the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities to their ancestral lands and domains, respect and preserve their culture and ensure their economic, social and cultural well-being, and in accordance with the provisions of R.A. 8371. 

An Act to recognize and promote the rights of indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples, creating the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, establishing implementing mechanisms, appropriating funds thereof and for other purposes ... (then the name of the beneficiary) ...belong to the . . .(tribe) Indigenous Community/Indigenous Peoples, having continuously occupied, possessed and utilized since time immemorial under the a claim of ownership certain ancestral land situated in ...(location)... containing an area of ... (in hectares or square meters) ... more or less, more particularly bounded and described on page 2 hereof is/are hereby recognized of their rights thereto.

To have and to hold ownership  the above-described Ancestral Land.

To develop, control, manage, utilize and conserve the said Ancestral Land with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities appurtenant thereto, including the rights to/among members of the Indigenous Cultural Community/Indigenous Peoples, subject to the customary laws and traditions of the said community “.

Indigenous peoples, according to the United Nations, “those people having any historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies, consider themselves distinct from the other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories or parts of them. They form at present non- dominant sectors of the society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations, their ancestral territories and ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as people in accordance with their own cultural pattern, social institutions and legal system.”

 While doing a review on files submitted by conflicting claimants for settlement at the Council of Elders, I was all eyes on an old Real Property Declaration which states, “ I, PIRAZO (one name), residing in the town of TUBA, Province of Benguet, hereby certify that I am the owner of the following property located in the Barrio of GUISAD, township of Tuba. (note- the property is located in Guisad but in Tuba Township. It is an Inoman Pastureland, a 10 hectare land. This tax declaration was sworn and subscribed by then Tuba’s El President, WAKAT SUELLO. “ My grandfather Wakat Suello was the El president of Baguio. When the real property declaration was signed, he was then the El President of Tuba 1918, when the city was separated from the Township of Tuba”, according to Mrs. Marrie Suello Kitma, the granddaughter of Wakat Suello.

So, with the original copy of the Baguio Charter missing, being the best source of information, Guisad valley(of Baguio) could have been a part and parcel of the Municipality of Tuba just like in the case of Loakan, whom the old folks claimed that they also paid taxes in Tuba in the early days.

Guisad Valley at present consists of barangays along the hills that surround Guisad. Quirino Hill barangays, Pinsao-Pinget, Pilot and Proper, Quezon Hill and Irisan. My question, “ Does the Inoman of Guisad declared by my grandfather Pirazo lies along the hills? Or at the very heart of BPI(Bureau of Plant Industry)? A cousin and newsman March Fianza texted and said, “ As far as I recall, the junction of Bukawkan road and Magsaysay Road was the “Inomantibaka”, where Agrix building is now located.”

 At the back of the pasture hills were full of pine trees and woodland forest. The Bureau of Plant Industry Compound was paddies of rice fields.Before the Americans, Ibalois were in Guisad Valley namely, the Pucays, the Bugnays, Heirs of Pirazos, Heirs of Sinot Solano, Heirs of Pasi, and the Heirs of Kiangs in Badihoy. They were ruled by their elders.

They also maintained their forests called, “Kakadkajowan”, similar to the Muyong of Ifugao. Then was the time when the Ibalois took no more than they needed of trees for lumbers and firewood. The brooks and streams, springs and rivers were never thought to be polluted. They had the fullest of what their natural resources could bring. Those were the times when one has to set aside the trees to find that Ibaloi hut at the middle of the forest.

                        *** 

Typhoon “Mario” passed Baguio. This weekend comes Typhoon “Neneng”. Watch out when the Typhoon “Pirazo” comes bit by bit. Guisad Inoman is just one of the ancestral claims of his descendants here in Baguio and in the neighboring towns of Benguet.  

If and when the NCIP, the arm of the government, mandated to give way for the IPs of Baguio rightful privileges, am favorable that Baguio be in CADT statues.  But for this Ibaloi writer, it would be just his conclusion rather than his opinion.

“Happy trails to all indigenous people of the Cordillera”. This October is Indigenous People’s month. “On baknabaknang kitejo nemin!”