SC voids ancestral land titles claimed in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY—The Supreme Court has nullified 28 titles issued to Ibaloy lands being claimed at a portion of the presidential Mansion House, Baguio’s Wright Park and a prewar hotel, after ruling that the summer capital was exempted from the ancestral land provisions of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1987 (Ipra, or Republic Act No. 8371).

Section 78 of the law protecting and enforcing indigenous Filipino rights “expressly excludes the city of Baguio from the application of the general provisions of the Ipra,” ruled the high court’s Second Division in a Sept. 25 decision that was received by City Hall on Nov. 12.

The decision, penned by now retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, asserted that the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) “has no legal authority to issue CALTs (certificates of ancestral land title) or CADT (certificates of ancestral domain title)” in the city.

The Court said Section 78 grants Baguio control over lands within its townsite reservation. This Ipra provision stipulates that CALTS or CADTs are possible in this city if these involve Ibaloy land claims recognized by the American colonial government in the early part of the 20th century.

The nullified CALTs were issued in 2010 to the heirs of Cosen Piraso represented by Richard Acop, and the heirs of Josephine Molintas Abanag, which the Baguio government contested in court.

The city government also asked for the nullification of the 2010 CALT granted to the heirs of Lauro Carantes, over a 5-hectare property inside the city’s Forbes Park reserve. The Baguio government is currently preparing legal action against the dwellers of the Busol Watershed, including Ibaloy ancestral land claimants.

Native title

Various historical studies asserted that Baguio used to be one of the 31 “rancherias” (Ibaloy settlements) of Benguet province. Scholars said Ibaloys herded cattle here but were dispossessed and pushed back to the city’s forested outskirts when the colonial government designed, built and populated Baguio after 1909.

Baguio is also where the very first ancestral land, or “native title” was recognized in the country.

The native title doctrine (also known as the Cariño Doctrine)—which was issued by the US Supreme Court in 1909 —recognized the rights of Ibaloy Mateo Cariño over his pastureland, which was sequestered by the American military and turned into what is now Camp John Hay.

The Doctrine is one of the foundations for Ipra, as well as the provisions in the 1987 Constitution which recognized indigenous peoples’ (IP) rights.

But the high court said: “NCIP cannot transgress this clear legislative intent [of Congress] … that all lands proclaimed as part of Baguio City’s Townsite Reservation [as of 1912] shall remain part of the townsite reservation unless reclassified by Congress.”

Baguio is currently the only townsite left in the country. Except for government reservations and forests, all lands in the city are alienable. Townsite sales applicants are required to undergo an auction to purchase and title up to 1,000 square meters of land, which they have developed.

It was not clear how the Supreme Court decision would affect Baguio’s only CADT, which was issued inside the John Hay Reservation for Ibaloy and Kankanaey dwellers of Barangay Happy Hallow. The Bases Conversion and Development Authority, which controls Camp John Hay, has filed a separate petition to withdraw the Baguio CADT.

The Supreme Court acknowledged that the CALT issue affects Baguio’s historical heritage, citing the Wright Park, the Mansion House, the Senate President’s Cottage and public roads “which are all covered by the assailed CALTs.”

Eviction, takeover

In 2013, the Abanag family put up signs around Wright Park declaring the area as private property. The family also went to court to stop the government from constructing a Baguio broadcasting office for government television station PTV 4 at what used to be the Cordillera House outside the gates of the Mansion.

In 2014, Acop’s family evicted Casa Vallejo, Baguio’s oldest hotel, from their ancestral land along Session Road. They were given a writ of possession by the NCIP, which was withdrawn immediately when the eviction created a scandal.

In 2015, the NCIP announced there were “procedural and substantive defects, which constitute fraud” in the 2010 issuance of CALTs to the heirs of Abanag, Piraso and Carantes. The agency discovered the loss of documents that should have authenticated these titles, and the anomaly “warrants the cancellation of the CALTs.”

Last month, Mayor Benjamin Magalong met with the NCIP, taking issue with some CALT beneficiaries who sold their ancestral lands to developers. Ipra allows the transfer of IP property only among family members or members of the same tribe.

The NCIP is reviewing the Supreme Court decision and is preparing an appeal.