Baguio mayor: Ancestral lands preserved not sold

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Benjamin Magalong wants ancestral lands in the city preserved instead of sold or developed commercially.

The mayor made known his stand in his response to one lot owner who offered to sell to the city an ancestral land he owns in one barangay for the city’s development projects like the north-bound bus terminal, pine tree nursery, low cost housing among others . 

The 11-hectare property was said to be “covered by several CALTs (Certificate of Ancestral Land Titles) which were subdivided and became Transfer Certificates of Title.” 

The mayor rejected the offer but suggested a partnership to help the owner preserve the lot as a tree farm or park.  

“We regret to inform you, even as your offer is perceived as noble.., the development of your land as bus staging area and/or low-cost housing locale, would be contrary to the mandate of the State to ‘respect, recognize and protect the right of the ICCs (Indigenous Cultural Communities)/ IPs (Indigenous Peoples) to preserve and protect their culture, traditions and institutions’,” the mayor said.

“But taking cue from R.A. 8371 (Indigenous People's Rights Act of 1997) which mandates the State to preserve indigenous peoples’ cultures, traditions and institutions, we are very much willing to aid you and your clan in the perpetuation of your Igorot culture by continuing to protect your ancestral property from informal settlers,” he said.

“We are most willing to take you up in your offer to establish a tree nursery over the property you are burdened to protect on behalf of your successors, seeing that possession of the property would still be with the (clan) and their countless predecessors down the line.”

The mayor said he is firm in his stand “that ancestral lands, if enrolled under the IPRA via provisions on Delineation and Recognition under Section 53 of said law, are intended for preservation for future generations to come.” 

He said that based on the law, lands covered by CALTs “should not be treated the same way as those covered by Torrens titles (because) ancestral lands… are conditioned not only upon ‘possession since time immemorial’ but to ‘possession extant’ pursuant to Section 3 (b) of the IPRA.”

“Under the ‘indigenous concept of ownership’ moreover, ancestral lands serve as the material bases of the ICCs/IPs cultural integrity, being property belonging to all generations of the same ICCs/IPs,” the mayor said.

He said this is why TCTs emanating from CALTs cannot be recognized as valid.

“After all, it is impossible to subdivide the air, the spirits, sentient beings, things tangible and intangible, all of which are inseparable from the ancestral land upon which IP cultural integrity is anchored and have said subdivided lands covered by separate transfer titles.  This, over the fact that issuance of (TCTs) have no legal bases in the IPRA,” the mayor said.