Execs hit CA decision:Baguio watersheds’ sale on

By Paul Rillorta and Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY – Vital government properties titled by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples particularly those within watersheds in the city are now being sold openly.

 “Unscrupulous individuals are now selling these properties to prospective buyers and in fact have entered and introduced improvements on them to the detriment of the city,” said vice mayor Daniel Farinas.   “It is alarming.We have to do something legally.”

Farinas bared these during an executive-legislative meeting recently at city hall.

Earlier, the Court of Appeals in a decision denied the petition of the Office of the Solicitor General for the nullification of Original Certificates of ancestral Land titles (CALT’s) issued by the NCIP over prime lots within Forbes Park and Wright Park.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said the cases are not yet over and motions for reconsideration on the CA’s decision have been filed.

“We have to warn prospective buyers about the real situation here,” Domogan said.

The city government has brought to the attention of the Task Force for Baguio and Boracay composed of top officials, concerns regarding issuances of Certificates of Ancestral Land Titles (CALT’s) over parks and watersheds of the city.

The move is for the task force to understand the alarming environmental impact it poses to Baguio if forest reserves within the city continue to be titled to private individuals.

Officials said these recent developments will cause problems for the city and will surely have great impact on remaining forest and watershed cover.

Mayor Domogan said sale of lands within Forbes Park reservation and Wright Park remain invalid and illegal even as the CA dismissed the petition for nullification of titles over the said public properties filed by the Office of the Solicitor-general.

The local chief executive said the CA decision did not attain finality because the Solicitor-General already filed a motion for reconsideration questioning dismissal of the petition on technicality.

 “The public must be warned not to be enticed to buy lands within the Forbes Park reservation and the Wright Park area since the sale of the lands remain illegal considering that the areas are the city’s only remaining forested areas that must be preserved and protected,”          Domogan said.

He cited the decision of the NCIP favoring the ancestral claim of the heirs of Lauro Carantes over a 23-hectare portion of Forbes Park and the claim of Josephin Abanag over Wright Park that includes the site of the Philippine Information Agency in the Cordillera and some golf holes of the Baguio Country Club are highly irregular.

According to him, the city government has still a chance to question the merit of the case before the Supreme Court if the CA decides to uphold its earlier decision dismissing the petition to nullify the aforesaid ancestral titles considering that there are numerous SC rulings that cited that merits of cases must not be compromised by mere technicalities.

While it is true that Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples rights Act recognizes the charter of the city, Domogan said IPRA also recognizes ancestral land claims that were previously recognized by administrative bodies and the courts pursuant to Section 78 of the said law which took effect in November of 1997.

However, Domogan raised the question whether or not the ancestral claims of the heirs of Carantes over a portion of Forbes Park and the ancestral claims of Abanag over Wright Park were previously recognized by the courts or administrative bodies prior to effectivity of IPRA.

 “We had been receiving inquiries from numerous individuals from different parts of the country and even overseas who are doubting the sale of prime lots within the two reservations, thus, the public must be informed that the sale of the lands within the watersheds are illegal and invalid,” Domogan said.

He added the city government will not surrender the remaining watershed reservations to the alleged purported ancestral land claimants.

Domogan also questioned the procedure adopted by the NCIP in granting the ancestral claims of the heirs of Luaro Carantes over a portion of Forbes Park and Abanag over Wright Park considering that the recognition of the ancestral land claims grossly violated the outlined procedures, particularly the delisting of the parks and reservations.

 “If the city government will lose the case in the future, it will also be the end of the remaining pine stands in the city considering that the Forbes Park reservation and Wright Park play host to thousands of old pine trees that serves as the city’s buffer zone to combat the serious negative effects of climate change,” Domogan said.

He added the public must also be vigilant on the moves of the claimants to willfully sell their ancestral claims to innocent buyers who might end up losing their hard earned money.