Ibaloi claims, CPLAs, autonomy and deaths

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY –  “Concerned residents” of this tourist resort are now questioning acquisition of lands here like “ancestral land” considering that it seems, Ibalois of Baguio are now trying to assert their ancestral land rights even if these are within forest watersheds, parks among other government and private lots.

They have applied for certificates of ancestral land ownership awards with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples which had obligingly issued the CALTs. Now even the lot where the historic Casa Vallejo stands is now owned by the Pirasos, an old Ibaloi family.

Much had been discussed on how ownership of Baguio lands evolved “since time immemorial” so we will not venture into its intricacies. Suffice to say, it is good development that the issue of ownership over ancestral lands has come to fore. Now even the mandate of the NCIP is being scrutinized like on implementation of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act and following the case of Casa Vallejo, the NCIP central office put on hold issuance of CALT’s in Baguio over furor from “concerned citizens.” 

But even as the Ibalois are asserting their land rights, carpet baggers, pseudo lot owners, power players and yes, even the so-called Cordillera People’s Liberation Army are trying to take advantage of the situation.

Now, we have Kankanaeys and dubious people who are laying claim on these “ancestral lands.” Some powers-that-be are pulling the strings while the CPLA (we thought they have been integrated already into government forces or have become a non-armed group) are still around and trying to gain adherents by playing as bodyguards ancestral land claimants.

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Recently, a native Ibaloi clan in Baguio linked with the CPLA in their ancestral land dispute with private realty developer Sta Lucia Realty and Development Inc. along km 3, Asin Road.

This, even if the Criminal Investigation Detection Group confirmed reports of CPLA men acting as bodyguards of land grabbers or were themselves trying to amass lands for their own in Baguio.

But belying allegations that the CPLA, a militia group that had severed ties with the New People’s Army in 1986, “occupied” the 54-hectare ancestral land being disputed by the native Ibaloi Tunged clan, Rosita Liwan speaking in their behalf said it was the CPLA headed by Melchor Balance alias “Ka Kawar” that brokered dialogues with the huge realty firm to agree on a joint relocation survey of the disputed land.

The survey still has to be done even as the CPLA is still being maligned publicly for its alleged land-grabbing activities in Baguio City and Benguet province. Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan had also called attention of top police and military officials in the Cordillera to look into allegations of CPLA activities that are frightening people in towns of the province.

The CPLA had been splintered into different groups with each claiming to be the “genuine” one. Now Balance, chairman of the group which is meddling in the Sta. Lucia issue blamed “pseudo-CPLA” groups like those that had since agreed with a “closure agreement” with government that are still “using the name of the group for their personal interests.”

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According to Liwan, it was their clan’s decision to close ranks with Balance’s group so they could strengthen their claim of the disputed 54-hectare land that had been appropriated  by the realty developer as part of subdivision development. 

“We have proof that it is the clan’s property as shown by tax declarations since 1959,”  she said, adding they are holding  boundary proofs with other Ibaloi land claimants which had since sold theirs to Sta Lucia.

There are about 10 Ibaloi families under the Tunged clan fighting it out with Sta Lucia, which agreed that a “status quo” on the property pending a determination of the metes and bounds of each claim.

The CPLA  involved with land-grabbing issues in Baguio maybe linked, Tingguian (Abra) “Ka Kawar” said, to those still claiming they are CPLA’s, but in fact have turned their backs on the  “uniform, identity and aspiration” for Cordillera regional autonomy.

“They are no longer CPLA because they already entered a closure agreement with the government," he said.

Two years ago, the CPLA group led by Arsenio Humiding entered into a closure agreement with the government through the Office of the Presidential Assistant on the Peace Process (OPAPP and surrendered their firearms 

They had since transformed as a socio-economic group, its leaders had claimed.

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The present CPLA now, according to Balance, is alive and still aspiring for  regional autonomy and had since embarked on a citizen’s initiative-fueled “autonomy caravan” consulting Cordillerans in the grassroots if they still yearn for self-government.

The response in the provinces where they went is tremendous, according to CPLA consultant Benedict Ballug, convenor of the “Autonomy Movement in the Administrative Cordillera” (AMIN-TACO), meaning, “all of us”. Now incredulous radio commentators are asking where they held consultations if there were indeed such activities.

The CPLA, Ballug told the media, is the same autonomy movement that dreams to craft a “tribal version” of the third Organic Act that will establish the Cordillera Autonomous Region by the end of this year.  

“This time around, with its beginnings in the grassroots unlike in the past, Cordillerans will say yes to it,” Ballug said.

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True, any autonomy movement should start from the grassroots. But then, if surveys are to be believed, now is not yet the right time for autonomy basing from the “pulse” of the people. Now, there are concerned sectors who are wondering where the millions released by the national government for information drive to push autonomy had been going.

They want a detailed accounting of the funds, since according to them, these had never been published -- and if the government is really intent on pushing Cordillera autonomy, it has to be transparent in the use of funds as example of good governance.

Pundits are saying if government officials cannot account for the millions of pesos supposedly used for its autonomy advocacy programs, what more to the billions  which are being promised should the region become autonomous?”