Interesting...

Manila-based ring preying on Ibaloi claims uncovered

By DEXTER A. SEE, Manila Bulletin

October 5, 2009, 7:20pm

BAGUIO CITY — Embattled representatives of an Ibaloi clan which claims a portion of Southdrive area in this mountain resort city as one of its ancestral land warned other claimants against the operation of a Manila-based syndicate that almost succeeded in illegally titling a bulk of a 24-hectare land which is to the disadvantage of legitimate claimants.

Some of the representatives of the heirs of Lauro Carantes, which has claims over a large portion of Southdrive, appealed to the public to beware of the alleged land grabbing syndicate who are working on large-scale dispensation of legitimate ancestral claims to the disadvantage of the real claimants.

They said the syndicate, which is led by a Manila-based lawyer, has been allegedly able to get hold of part of the land through a deed of assignment and transfer of rights signed by a certain Antino Carantes, one of the eight children of the late Luro Carantes.

They claimed the questionable deed of assignment and transfer of rights covered a total of 112,442 square meters or more than 10 hectares which is nearly one half of the ancestral claim of the Carantes.

However, the representative claimed Antino Carantes represented only one share of what his father owned, thus, he could not speak in behalf of the whole properties of his father.

Aside from Antino, the other children of Luaro Carantes are Adriano, Calixto (Fianza), Valentine, Placido, Crisanto, Adoracion (Comising), and Juliana (Balbines).

Sources disclosed that the Manila-based lawyer has been tagged by Land Registration Authority (LRA) head Benedicto Ulep, in a memorandum, as an alleged fixer.

Worst, a Manila-based company almost had the entire 112,442 square meters titled had not the Cordillera Small Business Assistance Center filed an adverse claim stopping the distribution of lands, especially in the ancestral claims in the region.

The disgruntled claimants pointed out that the Manila-based lawyer and his company should stop from interfering in the processing of the land claims of indigenous peoples, especially the heirs of Lauro Carantes and other legitimate ancestral land claimants in the city.

If the Manila-based lawyer was able to nearly fool the heirs of Lauro Carantes into giving up their claims, the concerned representatives warned the same could happen to other ancestral land claimants processing the titling of their claims under the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) which recognizes the existence of ancestral claims in the city provided that they had been existing prior to the passage of the said law.

IPRA empowers indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples to process the titling of their ancestral lands through the issuance of native titles in recognition of their ownership of the lands since time in memorial since the same was passed on from generation to generation

Jarius Bondoc Writes

OPINION

Law enforcers as lawbreakers

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated February 12, 2010 12:00 AM

One hundred and one years ago this month the US Supreme Court historically settled a long-drawn court fight. It deemed, by virtue of native title, Ibaloi tribal chief Mateo Cariño to be the owner of much of what is now Camp John Hay and Baguio City proper. The Philippine Supreme Court would later reiterate the jurisprudence. And from it arose 1987’s constitutional basis for ancestral lands, and 1997’s creation of a National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

Ironically Cariño’s heirs are today taking the NCIP to court. They cry that the agency not only is delaying release of their ownership title. Worse, it recently titled part of their land to another Ibaloi clan.

The plot in question is all of 69 hectares, covering the Baguio Dairy Farm. Last Nov. the NICP gave a certificate of ancestral land title (CALT) to the heirs of Ikang Paus. The Cariños point to 14 breaches in the titling of the area that in olden times was called Shuyo. Three of the flaws pertain to very rules of the NCIP. First is its memo of Sept. 2009 that Baguio CALTs would be issued only after screening by the city mayor as head of urban planning and development. The Paus CALT went through no such review. Second is proof of possession, like tax declaration. The NICP previously had rejected the Paus claim for absence of such document. Third is proof of clan inter-relationship. The Cariños contend that their and the Paus family trees show no ties, and that photos only prove the latter to be Ibaloi, not relatives.

This is not the first time the NICP is facing hostility in Baguio. In 2008 City Hall protested its titling to yet another clan more than 23 hectares of the Forbes Park Reserve. The area consists of the Botanical Garden (now called Centennial Park, near Camp John Hay’s old gate), and six pumping stations of the city watershed. The NICP is under the Office of the President. Malacañang bigwigs are known to have built mansions in the disputed lands.

* * *

Open Letter to Eugenio A. Insigne

CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL COMMISSION ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

This is in response to the news article in the People’s Journal Tonight, February 15, 2010, lead story NCIP to Nat’l Heroes Heirs End Trial by Media! written by Tess Lapuz-Lardizabal.

Who are you to say that “nobody was authorized to come out with such a press release in the name of the family?”

We are the proud descendants of Mateo and Bayosa Cariño, grandchildren of his fourth child Dr. Jose Ma. Cariño. We have the right to say anything we please and nobody can say otherwise, especially since we speak the truth.

The truth is that the NCIP has perpetrated a landgrab by awarding the Baguio Dairy Farm to fraudulent claimants, the Heirs of Ikang Paus, and this can be ascertained by any independent investigation of the case.

The truth is that the fraudulent Paus claim was already denied in Land Registration Case No. N-29 in 1976, was revoked in the NCIP chaired by Reuben Dasay Lingating in 2003, but was resurrected and hastily approved by NCIP under the chairmanship of Eugenio Insigne.

The truth is that this landgrab was approved by the committee en banc, and facilitated by the NCIP Baguio Office and Cordillera regional office without due process to the much earlier and legitimate claim of the Mateo and Bayosa Cariño Foundation. Insigne’s claim that he was out of the country at the time this was approved is irrelevant, as he is the chair of the Commission, and the commissioner from the Cordillera, and this would not have happened without his initiative and full backing.

The truth is that the survey which was made by Engineer Victor Bumatnong of the Baguio Office for the Cariño Foundation was instead used in the Paus application, and the Baguio NCIP Office through Gladys Lasdacan accomplished all requirements for Paus in a record two weeks time, while sitting on the Cariño application for years.

The truth is that the NCIP has violated its own rules and procedures, with the NCIP en banc arrogating unto itself the mandated functions of the Regional Hearing Officer after the Cariño Foundation filed its protest, thereby subverting due process.

The truth is that after the NCIP had awarded 68 hectares of the Baguio Dairy Farm to Paus, they made an offer to the Cariño Foundation to accept the remaining 25 hectares. While the Cariños were arguing over whether to accept the leavings or to expose the landgrab, the NCIP awarded an additional three lots to the Paus, thereby leaving only the crumbs for the Cariños. And crumbs stick in the throat and cannot be swallowed.

The truth is that the Certificates of Ancestral Land Title which have been awarded to Ibaloi families in Baguio by the NCIP have all come at a price. This is common knowledge, whether these families will admit to it publicly or not. While we fully support the legitimate claims of the Ibaloi claimants, we assert that the NCIP should not make these Ibaloi families feel that they are beholden since this is their birthright, which they have been fighting for for a long time.

The truth is that the price which Ibaloi claimants have to pay in exchange for their CALTs is not only the percentage of their land which they have to give up for “administrative costs,” but perhaps even more so the infighting, dis-unity and further loss of dignity among the Ibaloi clans which the NCIP system engenders.

The truth is that the very institution that has been set up to protect the rights of indigenous peoples is the very mechanism for their further oppression.

Now, the NCIP wants to throw a cañao in Baguio City, and expects those who have been awarded CALTs to contribute for the occasion and endorse Chairman Insigne’s bid for congress through the partylist. Enough of this shame!

We call on all Ibalois in Baguio to unify and stand up for our dignity. Let us not allow ourselves to be treated so shabbily. Isimphet tan itakshel e shayaw tayo.

GREAT GRANDCHILDREN OF MATEO & BAYOSA CARIÑO

GRANDCHILDREN OF DR. JOSE MA. CARIÑO

Insigne answers: People's Journal, 14 February, 2010

End trial by media!

by Tess Lapuz-Lardizabal

Sunday, 14 February 2010 19:04

NATIONAL Commission on Indigenous Peoples Chairman (NCIP) Eugenio A. Insigne speaks candidly, yet very carefully. It’s as if the chief makes sure every word he says doesn’t hurt anyone, even himself. Like a wounded tiger, the NCIP head has come out to parry the accusations being hurled at him like poisoned spears. Inheriting his ancestors’ bullheaded bravery, the full-blooded Tinggian from Abra says he is ready to face the legal war launched by his opponents. But in the proper arena called the courts, and not via media. In an exclusive interview with People’s Tonight, Insigne clarified issues raised by some descendents of national hero Mateo Cariño regarding the clan’s claims over their alleged ancestral land in Baguio. The NCIP chief noted that the case has been published in several dailies, including People’s Tonight. “Why are they bringing the case to the media? They should go to the court if they want to question the NCIP. There’s a proper legal venue for this,” said Insigne. Insigne explained that it is beyond the NCIP to “give back parts of Camp John Hay” to the claimants because their claim has to be endorsed first by the Baguio Ancestral Land Clearing Committee. This is pursuant to Baguio City Council Resolution No. 406, series of 2009 and the NCIP En Banc Resolution No. 090, Series of 2009. “Based on these two resolutions, applications for ancestral lands inside Baguio City can only be acted on by the commissioner after it passes the clearing committee,” he said. He added that NCIP En Banc Resolution No. 060-2009-AL, dated March 19, 2009, dismissed the claims of Mateo’s heirs’ claims for lack of merit, particularly for their failure to present evidence of continuous possession and to authenticate the survey plan they submitted of the area claimed. “The NCIP had carefully studied the pieces of evidence presented and did not issue a CALT to the Paus family in recored time. It took the NCIP six years to study the case from the time it was turned over by the DENR in 2003,” the NCIP chief added. Insigne also revealed that the Cariños have not appealed the resolution during their motion for reconsideration. He also belied claims that graft charges were filed against the NCIP commissioners. He explained the complaint filed was that for grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty. “The issue before the Ombudsman is whether the NCIP can issue titles over an inalienable forest reserve. It is the stand of the NCIP that it can. The DOJ supported the position in the case of LRA vs NCIP.” The NCIP chief revealed that he had gathered from the Mateo Cariño and Bayosa Foundation that “nobody was authorized to come out with such a press release in the name of the family.” “I would like to emphasize that I did not participate in the two resolutions as I was out of the country on an official mission. The losing party in the family dispute has taken their case to the media not so much to win the case but to foment disinformaion and malign those who would follow the rule of law. That they have resorted to extralegal means on the wings of Mateo Cariño, a regional hero and an icon in IP rights, shows the disgraceful extent to which this group will go to further their personal interests,” said Insigne. “I tried to help them (the Cariños). I was the one who filed the resolution to fast-track their claim. Inabutan lang ng clearing committee. I want to make it clear that I have always been sympathetic of their claims. And I had nothing to do with the two resolutions. I never asked anything from them,” stressed Insigne.

People's Tonight article, 31 January 2010

‘Give us part of John Hay back!’

by People's Tonight

Sunday, 31 January 2010 19:51

WHEREVER he is, national hero Mateo Cariño must be watching proudly and beaming like an undefeated king at his descendants. The Igorot chieftain had passionately defended his ancestral land to the tomb. Like him, his heirs are bent on winning his battles with the unique ferocity and gentle fervor that characterize members of the clan. As part of efforts to recover the Baguio Dairy Farm, they are set to file fraud and graft charges against National Commission on Indigenous Peoples commissioners. Heirs of the national hero are set to file charges against NCIP Commissioner Eugenio Insigne and other commissioners. They are also set to file prohibitory actions against the NCIP and the Philippine courts over the issuance of CALTs covering 22 hectares of much more expensive properties in Baguio City which the NCIP allegedly issued to a spurious land claimant. Last year, Baguio City filed graft charges against the seven commissioners because the NCIP had issued a CALT covering the Baguio Botanical Garden, the Ilusorio Park and even parts of Camp John Hay, which are being claimed by the Cariño family as part of their ancestral domain. Joaquin “Jack” Kintanar Cariño, publisher of the Baguio Yearbook, and writer Linda Grace Cariño said the NCIP erred and ignored its own rules and guidelines, due process and the IPRA Law when it issued ancestral land titles covering more than 90 hectares of prime property of the Baguio Dairy Farm in Baguio City to a family claiming to trace their lineage to Bayosa Ortega-Cariño -- acknowledged owner of the said property and wife of Mateo. Jack and Linda Grace are grandchildren and heirs of ex-Baguio City Mayor Dr. Joe Ma. Cariño, a son of Mateo. Jack Cariño said the family’s claim has been with the government as early as 1990. Despite a favorable recommendation by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, processing of the claim by the NCIP had been painstakingly slow. As if adding insult to injury, the NCIP approved in record time the issuance of the CALTs to the Paus family on the major premise that they are descendants of Bayosa Ortega. The complainants cited that the family tree of Bayosa has been featured in several publications. They challenged the Paus claimants and the NCIP to enlighten the public on how the Paus family became descendants of Bayosa. They claimed that Bayosa only had nine children and all are accounted for. “This is a classic case of identity theft,” said Jack. Linda Grace added that the Paus claim is filled with fraudulent loopholes, citing the claim that they have been religiously paying taxes on the property in question since 1918. She revealed that all tax receipts attached to their file are dated 2008. In a letter to the Paus family dated April 29, 1996, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources held in abeyance their claim pending submission of alleged tax declaration dated 1918. The Paus file contains no such tax declaration. “How can such large-scale fraud happen under the very office that is supposed to protect indigenous people’s rights?” Linda asked. According to her, the land value of Baguio in the aforementioned area is estimated at P5,000 per square meter. “You multiply P5,000 times 90 hectares -- or 900,000 square meters total. This will give you a rough amount to P4.5 billion . With development investments, the property value within a year will certainly quadruple. Surveyors of a huge property firm are already surveying the area, fueling speculations that the property had already been sold even prior to the issuance of the CALT,” she added.

Elections mar Dairy Farm claims

Baguio Chronicle, February 16, 2010

BAGUIO CITY--THE HEIRS of Baguio pioneer Mateo Carino and wife Bayosa Ortega this week conceded that any favorable action from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on their ancestral land claims at the old Baguio Dairy Farm will have to wait until after the elections.

Joaquin “Jack” Carino on Thursday revealed the NCIP en banc is about to go on recess this week without changing its original stance on the 78-hectare property at the Baguio Dairy Farm awarded to the heirs of another ancestral land claimant, Ikang Paus.

Carino added that the alleged offer by the NCIP to award to them 25 hectares of the original 98-hectare property was a token effort to appease the clan. He said accepting such an offer would be like admitting that the Paus clan are legitimate ancestral land claimants and thereby alter the historical context of the property initially called Chuyo by the early Ibalois residing in the Baguio area.

Meanwhile, the Paus clan sent feelers to the Chronicle they will address the issue “at the proper time and forum” and begged off from giving further comments.

As this developed, Carino said they intend to pursue their claim by filing fraud, graft and perhaps even plunder charges against NCIP Commissioner Eugenio Ensigne and seven others.

“This is a classic case of identity theft,” Cariño said. “They took our history and our great-grandparents’ particulars, and claimed them to be theirs. It’s ridiculous how an office that calls itself an NCIP can sanction such maneuverings,” he said.

The Carinos noted that the Paus claim is riddled with loopholes, such as their claim of religiously paying taxes on the property in question since 1918. Tax receipts attached to their file are all new and dated 2008, they alleged. In fact the DENR, in a letter dated April 29, 1996, and addressed to the Paus family, held in abeyance the Paus’s claim pending submission of their alleged tax declaration dated 1918, Cariño said.

“How can such large-scale fraud happen under the very office that is supposed to protect indigenous people’s rights?” Carino asked.

He elaborated that the value of the said property along the boundaries of Baguio and Tuba municipality is estimated at P5,000 per square meter . At 90 hectares or 900,000 square meters, the estimated total value of the area is around P4.5 billion.

With developments, the property value within a year is expected to increase four-fold, Carino said. Reportedly, surveyors of a giant property firm are already surveying the area fueling speculations that the property had already been sold even prior to the issuance of the CALT.

The Carino case is the latest in a string of related investigations involving the NCIP’s questionable award of Certificates of Ancestral Land Titles (CALTs) over vast areas of Baguio City.

Late last year, the Office of the Solicitor-General has started investigating the alleged unlawful awarding and sale of a 23-hectare portion of the Forbes Park watershed and forest reservation near Pacdal.

Earlier, the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 60, granted the city government’s petition for a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) to enjoin the Register of Deeds from acting on any transactions that involved controversial land titles.

A civil case has been filed by the local government of Baguio against the NCIP and the alleged property owners. The city legal office has also filed before the Office of the Ombudsman an administrative case against NCIP Commissioners Ensigne, Rolando Rivera, Rizalino Segundo, Atty. Noel Filongco, Jannette Serrano-Riesland, Felicito Masagnay, and Miguel Imbing Apostol who awarded the forested Forbes Park reservation to the heirs of Lauro Carantes.

Forbes Park is one of the few remaining forested areas in Baguio City that includes portions of Camp John Hay, the Botanical Garden (now renamed Centennial Park), Ilusorio Park near the Baguio Country Club, and Panagbenga Park at Camp John Hay’s old main gate.—adam o. borja

Ibaloi family cries foul over land claim mess

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 23:32:00 02/12/2010

Filed Under: People

BAGUIO CITY—THE HEIRS OF Ibalois Mateo and Bayosa Cariño are suing the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) because it ceded parts of their ancestral land claims to another family, whose supposed lineage suggest they are illegitimate Cariño cousins.

The great grandchildren of Cariño announced that they had initiated legal action against the NCIP for issuing a certificate of ancestral land title (CALT) to the Ikang Paus clan over 78 hectares of the government-owned Baguio Dairy Farm.

Their lawyers also asked the Court of Appeals to revoke the Paus CALT over the farm, which is still under the custody of the Department of Agriculture.

The NCIP issued the Paus CALT in March 2009 on the basis of the clan’s supposed lineage to Bayosa Cariño, although former NCIP Chair Reuben Dasay Lingating had rejected the clan’s claim during his term in 2003.

Linda Grace Cariño, one of the heirs, said they were furious because the Paus clan documents approved by the commissioners “impugn that my great grandmother, a 19th century woman, had children out of wedlock.”

Citing the published works of German author Otto Scheerer, the family said Paus never surfaced in the lineage of Mateo and Bayosa Cariño that historians had documented a hundred years ago.

Mateo Cariño was the Ibaloi who won a 1909 United States Supreme Court land case over what is now Camp John Hay.

This decision is enshrined in Philippine jurisprudence as the 1909 Doctrine of the Native Title, which legislators used as reference in drawing up Republic Act No. 8371 (the 1997 Indigenous Peoples Rights Act or Ipra).

Joanna Cariño, the oldest heir who spoke at the news conference, said the NCIP accommodated what she called “identity theft.”

The Cariño family contested the title because, it said, it also has a stake over portions of the dairy farm. It lost its final appeal in October 2009.

Joanna Cariño said Ibaloi families had approached Baguio Bishop Carlito Cenzon to complain about NCIP officials who offered to process ancestral land titles in exchange for a share of the lots.

Amador Batay-an, NCIP Cordillera director, said he participated in a September 2009 meeting convened by Cenzon and Secretary Silvestre Bello III, chair of the oversight committee on Ipra, but the claimants failed to substantiate their allegations.

Batay-an said the agency processed the claims in good faith, in spite of the controversy.

In the early 1990s Ibaloi families were embroiled in a controversy over the dairy farm when the Department of Agrarian Reform ruled that a certificate of land ownership award (CLOA) could grant control over the government lot. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

Legislative inquiry to check on NCIP's activities sought

by Liza Agoot

Baguio Midland Courier, February 7, 2010

“The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples is the government agency mandated to protect the rights of the indigenous people but it is the one violating the rights of the IPs by grabbing our land.”

“If such is the case, we might as well not have an NCIP,” said members of the heirs of Mateo Cariño who are crying foul over the injustice that the NCIP has done to the descendants of the person the NCIP recognizes as father of native land titles.

Joanna Cariño said that the NCIP is the cause of the division of IP families not only in the region but nationwide.

She claims that the recent resolution of the NCIP awarding the title over the claim of the heirs of Bayosa Ortega Cariño to the heirs of Ikang Paus is a direct proof of the land grabbing that the commission does to the indigenous people.

“We have documents to prove our claim. We have gone through the process and even questioned the earlier resolution showing proofs of our rights, but the NCIP did not even bother to study our motions.”

The award to the Paus’, she said, is questionable, since even the statements averred in the application of the heir are questionable and do not have any basis. “They are changing the history of the place as well as the culture by saying that they lived in an area which is now called Otek Street. They also claim to have affiliation with Bayosa Cariño.”

Linda Cariño added, “It is very unlikely for a woman of the 1900s to have children outside of her marriage, which the Paus have mentioned in their application.”

They said that “injustice has been perpetrated against the Cariño clan by no less than the very institution that has been created to protect indigenous peoples’ rights - the NCIP. The NCIP has wrongfully awarded the area known as the dairy farm, Bureau of Animal Industry to the heirs of Ikang Paus, notwithstanding the fraudulence of their claim, with complete disregard for the earlier and legitimate claim of the heirs of Mateo and Bayosa Cariño over said area, and in direct violation of their own rules and procedures.”

The Paus claim, they said, was spurious from the start. The certification for the Paus’ was “revoked and recalled for being patently illegal, a gross misrepresentation and in direct violation of the (undersigned) memorandum.”

They added that while the processing of their ancestral claim over the property was painfully slow, the Paus claim, which had already been declared illegitimate by the former NCIP chairman, was suddenly unearthed and approved by the present NCIP en banc in an unbelievably fast manner, they said.

“The Paus claim was suddenly transmitted from the NCIP ancestral domain office to the Baguio office with instruction to fast track the processing of the application, which is a clear violation of the NCIP’s own guidelines that processes of filing should start at the local office which was why we had to refile our claim at the Baguio office notwithstanding that our files have been with the NCIP since 1999, and with the DENR since 1990.”

The heirs said that within a period of two weeks, the resurrected claims had been completed, processed, and endorsed by the NCIP Baguio to the NCIP commission en banc. “We were not informed about this nor were we accorded due process.”

With the issues raised, the heirs are “calling upon the city council to launch an inquiry in aid of legislation into the Baguio dairy farm award.”

They also raised the issue that aside from specific cases within Baguio City, numerous alarming reports of likewise questionable transactions of the NCIP in other IP areas, such as the aetas in Subic, the mangyans of Mindoro, and non-Muslim natives in Mindanao. “We are told that real estate developers and subdivision owners are ever present at the NCIP offices following up ancestral land claims of indigenous peoples.”

“We are calling for a Congressional inquiry and even a Senate inquiry in aid of legislation into all actions of the NCIP,” the Cariño heirs said.

Carino heirs cry foul

WRITTEN BY: EDITORS ON FEBRUARY 9, 2010 NO COMMENT

WITH REPORTS FROM KATHLEEN T. OKUBO
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — In a seemingly long drawn frustration over the positioning of government with regards to the recognition and respect for indigenous peoples rights over their ancestral land, descendants of a leading clan of Baguio’s original inhabitants called a major press conference today to awaken and surface in concrete terms, the rage felt by indigenous peoples all over the country on the already snail-paced and corrupt-ridden processing of their ancestral land claims.

In a written statement members of the fourth generation said, “We are proud descendants of the Ibaloi chieftain Mateo Cariño and his wife Bayosa Cariño. Mateo fought for the right to his land up to the US Supreme Court and the landmark decision penned by the then US Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1909 recognized the right of Indigenous Peoples to their land by virtue of Native Title.”

Known also as the Doctrine of Native Title, the Cariño Doctrine is now enshrined in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. In legal battles it has also been “used by Indigenous Peoples all over the world, including Native American Indians in the US and Canada, the Aborigines of Australia and the Moaris of New Zealand, to fight for their rights to their ancestral land”, the statement said.

Here in the Philippines, the Cariño Doctrine was the basis for the enactment of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) and the establishment of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

Further they said, “As descendants of Mateo Cariño, we therefore welcome every victory achieved by Indigenous Peoples by virtue of the Doctrine of Native Title. We would be the last persons in the world to protest the award of ancestral land titles to legitimate claimants. The award of “ancestral land” to spurious or fake claimants, however, is another matter altogether.”

As evidenced in government documents, the Carino clan like several Ibaloi clans in Baguio were pushed to the fringes of their private farms and pastures by the colonizers without due process. Still today in a democratic state the situation is still perpetuated in government policies.

While detailed by speakers in the press conference their statement summed up the issue, “The recent award by the NCIP of more or less 78 hectares of land inside the Baguio Dairy Farm to the Heirs of Ikang Paus is a glaring example of such anomalous transactions involving fake claimants. A detailed presentation of both the Cariño and Paus claims over Chuyo is the object of this press conference.”

The Carino claim over the area referred in the press con as Chuyo is on the basis of testimonies by their ancestors and cowhands who settled in the area and an “approved survey plan issued by the Bureau of Lands in 1920 to then the late Mateo and widow Bayosa for 329 hectares which was taken from them by virtue of proclamations for government reservations without due process.

The statement said,”Having exhausted all administrative measures within the NCIP to advance the Cariño case over Chuyo, we are now constrained to bring our case to the bar of public opinion. We do so not just to further our case but for the public interest as well.

It is certainly in the public interest to have this case, which involves a large tract of land within Baguio City, ventilated and to have all facts out in the open.

We likewise assert that we will never surrender our claim over Chuyo and we are now preparing graft and illegal practices charges against the NCIP with the Ombudsman.

We will likewise ask the Court of Appeals to revoke the Certificate of Ancestral Land Title issued by the NCIP over the 78 hectares inside the Baguio Dairy Farm to the Heirs of Ikang Paus.

The sheer magnitude of the award boggles the mind. 78 hectares is equivalent to 780,000 square meters.

With a low estimated value of P2,000.00 per square meter, the amount involved in the award is P1.56 billion. This makes the NCIP officials responsible for the award liable for the crime of plunder.

The magnitude of this case should actually impel the local government of Baguio to get involved in the case. We are calling upon the City Council to launch an inquiry in aid of legislation into the Baguio Dairy Farm award.
We are therefore calling for a congressional inquiry and even a senate inquiry in aid of legislation into all actions of the NCIP. Instead of protecting the indigenous peoples’ rights, the NCIP has become an instrument for their oppression.

As the celebration of the first ever Baguio Ibaloi Day on February 23, 2010 approaches we are confronted with mixed emotions.

On the one hand, the recognition given by the City Council to the original Ibaloi settlers of Baguio is definitely worth celebrating.

On the other hand, the recent actions of the NCIP clearly show that Baguio Ibalois have nothing to celebrate. As Baguio was celebrating its Centennial, the questionable and irregular awards of ancestral lands within Baguio City by the NCIP launched Baguio’s march into the next 100 years on the wrong foot.
The righting of this wrong is therefore imperative as Baguio embarks on its next 100 years.” The statement concluded.

Sources say, the alleged landgrab made in the name of Ikang Paus was worked-out through a Manila based law firm identified as Adarlo-Caoile law offices# nordis.net

NCIP award of 78-hectare Baguio Dairy Farm lot questioned

BY: adambaguio Baguio : Philippines

BAGUIO CITY (Feb. 11)--Disgruntled over the manner by which the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) awards ancestral lands to fake ancestral claimants, descendants of Baguio pioneers Mateo and Bayosa Carino are preparing graft and illegal practice charges against the agency before the Ombudsman.

The Carino heirs, represented by Joaquin "Jack" Carino this week also revealed they will ask the Court of Appeals to revoke the Certificate of Ancestral Land Title issued by the NCIP over 78 hectares of land inside the Baguio Dairy Farm to heirs of Ikang Paus, another ancestral land claimant.

"The sheer magnitude of the award boggles the mind. 78 hectares is equivalent to 780,000 square meters. With a low estimated value of P2,000 per square meter, the amount involved in the award is P1.56 billion. This makes the NCIP officials responsible for the award liable for the crime of plunder," a statement of the Carino clan said.

The Carino heirs also opined that this case should impel the local government of Baguio and the national government to get involved. "We are calling upon the City Council to launch an inquiry in aid of legislation into the Baguio Dairy Farm award. We are calling for a congressional inquiry and even a senate inquiry in aid of legislation into all actions of the NCIP. Instead of protecting the indigenous peoples' rights, the NCIP has become an instrument for their oppression." the statement, issued on February 4, averred.

In a separate statement, the heirs of former Baguio Mayor Dr. Jose M. Carino, Joanna Carino, Jack Carino and Linda Grace Carino claimed that the NCIP has "wrongfully awarded" the area known as the Dairy Farm, Bureau of Animal Industry located at the foot of Mount Santo Tomas to the heirs of Ikang Paus notwithstanding the alleged fraudulence of their claims.

This, they said, was in complete disregard for earlier and legitimate claims of the heirs of Mateo and Bayosa Carino over the area, which they said was in direct violation of their own rules and procedures.

The Carino clan claim dates back to Sept. 6, 1990 when the Community Special Task Force on Ancestral Lands of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was first set up. Called the Bayosa Ortega Case Over Chuyo was transmitted by the DENR to the NCIP in 1999 and refilled at the NCIP Baguio Office in 2005.

The DENR made a favorable recommendation to the Bayosa case in a decision penned by Atty Danilo Luna and Guillermo Fianza.

On the other hand, the Paus claim started with a certification dated May 9, 2003 from the NCIP signed by a certain Noela P. Zunega of behalf of Mr. Benedict Lumauig, certifying that they filed a petition for recognition and delineation of an ancestral land claim.

However, Atty. Reuben Dasay Lingating, then chairman of the NCIP issued Memorandum Order 256, dated June 09, 2003 saying the earlier certification was revoked and recalled for allegedly being "illegal, a gross misrepresentation, and in deirect violation" of an oreder directing Ms Zunega to refrain from making decisions in relation to ancestral domain applications.

On November 17, 2008, the Paus claim was suddenly transmitted from the National NCIP ancestral Domains Office to the Baguio Office with instructions to fast-track the application.

Within a period of 2 weeks after the transmittal from the national office, the resurrected claim of the Heirs of Ikang Paus had been completed, processed and endorsed by NCIP Baguio to the NCIP Commission En Banc, the statement said.

"We filed a protest against the Paus Claim at the NCIP Regional Hearing Office on December 8, 2008. The Regional Hearing Officer did not investigate the issues cited in the protest nor did he hear the case. He was of the position that the case was no longer under his jurisdiction, as the Paus claim was already up for decision at the Commission En Banc," it added.

"Again, this violates NCIP procedure as disputes at the local level should be heard by the Regional Hearing Officer, not the Commission En Banc. The Regional Hearing Officer even admitted that there was irregularity in the swiftness of action on the revived Paus claim, with the push coming from the national office," the statement also stated.

"We are outraged at the injustice and the swiftness of the landgrab perpetrated by the NCIP under Chairman Eugenio Insigne, under the office of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. If the NCIP can do this to the Cariño clan, with our legacy of the doctrine of Native Title, what more to the other marginalized indigenous peoples all over the country," the Carino heirs said.

Further, the Carino clan said "the NCIP En Banc thinks that we can be appeased by passing two resolutions (En Banc resolution Nos. 110 and 111, series of 2009) recognizing Ibaloi Chief Mateo Cariño as the father of the Doctrine of Native Title, and seeking to erect a monument in his honor and rename Camp John Hay after him."

"The gall! They grab your land, give it to fake claimants for whatever anyone can speculate they got in exchange, and then give you a resolution honoring your great grandfather," they said.The clan vows to pursue their claims over Chuyo through legal means, aside from taking the case to the bar of public opinion, and to the United Nations.-adam borja

Another Baguio family to file charges vs NCIP

Business Mirror Written by Jojo Perez / Correspondent

MONDAY, 08 FEBRUARY 2010 18:44

WITH the City of Baguio filing illegal practices in the Ombudsman’s office against the seven commissioners of the National Commission on Indigeneous Peoples (NCIP) over the issuance of  Certificates  of Ancestral Land Title (CALTs) covering the Botanical Garden, Ilusorio Park and Panagbenga Park to a false ancestral land claimant, another family is set to file this week fraud, graft and perhaps even plunder charges against the same NCIP commissioners over the issuance of yet another fraudulent CALT. Illegal practices, fraud and even graft charges are set to be filed against Commissioner Eugenio Insigne and six other commissioners of the NCIP over the NCIP’s issuance of CALTs on properties in Baguio City and Benguet being claimed by the heirs of  Igorot chieftain and national hero Mateo Cariño. According to Joaquin  “Jack” Kintanar Cariño, publisher of the annual Baguio Yearbook, and writer-educator Linda Grace Cariño, both grandchildren and heirs of former Baguio City mayor Dr. Jose Ma. Cariño, one of Mateo Cariño’s sons, the NCIP erred and totally ignored their own rules and guidelines, due process and even the Indigenous People’s Rights Act itself in issuing ancestral-land titles covering more than 70 hectares of prime property of the Baguio Dairy Farm to a family claiming to trace their lineage to Bayosa Ortega, the acknowledged owner of said property and wife of Mateo Cariño. Jack Cariño further said that the claim of their family has been with the government as early as 1990, and despite being given a favorable recommendation by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the processing of the Cariño claim by the NCIP had been painstakingly slow. Surprisingly, the NCIP approved “in record time” the issuance of the CALTs to the heirs of Ikang Paus on the major premise that members of the Paus family are descendants of Bayosa Ortega. Cariño further  cited that the lineage or family tree of Bayosa Ortega Cariño has been much-publicized in numerous publications, and challenged the Paus claimants and the NCIP to enlighten the public on  how exactly  the heirs of Ikang Paus became descendants of Bayosa Ortega Cariño when the latter had only nine children and all are accounted for. “This is a classic case of identity theft,” Cariño said. “They took our history and our great-grandparents’ particulars, and claimed them to be theirs.  It’s ridiculous how an office that calls itself an NCIP can sanction such maneuverings.” For her part, Linda Cariño noted that the Paus claim is studded with loopholes, such as their claim of religiously paying taxes on the property in question since 1918. Tax receipts attached to their file are all new and dated 2008, she said.  In fact the DENR, in a letter dated April 29, 1996, and addressed to the Paus family, held in abeyance the Paus’s claim pending submission of their alleged tax declaration dated 1918.  The Paus’s file contains no such tax declaration, Cariño said. “How can such large-scale fraud happen under the very office that is supposed to protect indigenous people’s rights?” she asked. Cariño answered that question herself. She said the value of the aforementioned area in Baguio is estimated at P5,000 per square meter (sq m). Multiplying P5,000 by 90 hectares or 900,000 sq m equals about P4.5 billion. With development investments, the property value within a year will certainly  quadruple, she said. Surveyors of a huge property firm are already surveying the area fueling speculations that the property had already been sold even prior to the issuance of the CALT. Jack Cariño said his family is set to file separate charges this week against Insigne and the other commissioners of the NCIP  at the Office of the Ombudsman for fraud, illegal practices and graft. This is aside from prohibitory actions such as cancellation of title at the Court of Appeals and even the Supreme Court. The NCIP commissioners are also in hot water over the issuance of CALTs covering 22 hectares of much more expensive property in the city that the NCIP  had issued to a spurious land claimant. The City of Baguio filed graft charges against the seven commissioners late last year because the NCIP had issued a CALT covering the Baguio Botanical Garden, Ilusorio Park and even parts of Camp John Hay, which is being claimed by the Cariño family as ancestral domain.

Ibaloi chieftain's descendants assail NCIP land award

NATION

By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star) Updated February 12, 2010 12:00 AM MANILA, Philippines - The descendants of a pre-Spanish era Ibaloi chieftain have assailed the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for awarding 78 hectares of prime Baguio City land estimated to be worth P3.8 billion to a supposedly dubious claimant. Joaquin “Jack” Kintanar Cariño, a fourth-generation descendant of Ibaloi chieftain Mateo Cariño, said the NCIP should explain its issuance of a certificate of ancestral land title (CALT) to the heirs of one Ikang Paus led by Elias Paus and Dolores Mallare last Nov. 7 despite serious questions on their claim to a big portion of the Baguio Dairy Farm. Cariño, publisher of the annual Baguio Yearbook and the Baguio Travellers’ Guide, said the NCIP awarded the Baguio Dairy Farm tract of land to the heirs of Ikang Paus, who claimed to be descendants of their ancestor, Mateo Cariño and his wife, Bayosa Ortega. “If they are going to give justice to the direct descendants of Mateo Cariño and Bayosa Ortega, then they should have awarded the CALT to us Cariños who can show our family tree and our descent from the nine children of Mateo Cariño and Bayosa Ortega,” Cariño said. “The claim of these heirs of Ikang Paus to be the direct descendants of Bayosa Ortega is highly questionable,” he added. Cariño said Bayosa Ortega only had one husband, Mateo Cariño, and it was highly improper to impute that she had other children other than the nine children she had with Mateo Cariño. “There is no basis for the award,” Cariño said, adding that they were ready to filegraft, if not plunder charges against NCIP chairman Eugenio Insigne and the other commissioners of the agency. Asked last Friday to comment on the allegations, Insigne sought to distance himself from the NCIP move, saying he was out of the country when the NCIP commissioners issued the CALT. However, Insigne defended the agency’s move, saying he saw nothing wrong with the issuance of the CALT. “I think everything is in order,” Insigne told The STAR. “As a lawyer, I think the decision (to issue the CALT) is supported by evidence and jurisprudence on the matter,” he said. The Cariños of Baguio City, by virtue of their being direct descendants of Mateo Cariño, have pending claim to all of Baguio Dairy Farm, which covers an area of more than 90 hectares. Mateo Cariño is said to be the Ibaloi chieftain recognized by Spanish authorities who managed to reach the highlands of Benguet during their more than 300-year reign in the Philippines. In exchange for his conversion to Christianity, resulting in his Christian surname of Cariño, the Spanish government gave him Spanish land titles to vast tracts of land covering much of what is now Baguio City. During the American occupation, Mateo Cariño was said to have incurred the ire of the new colonizers when he reportedly harbored Emilio Aguinaldo, president of the revolutionary government, on his escape to Hong Kong. The American military government was said to have issued military decrees ordering the confiscation of Mateo Cariño’s lands in favor of the American government. Mateo Cariño, for his part, fought to overturn the nullification of these military decrees until he died in 1908. He gained a posthumous legal victory though when the US Supreme Court in 1909 issued alandmark ruling penned by revered American jurist and man of letters Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., that recognized “native title” to valid land rights established by testimonies or memories on land that has been held, occupied and utilized in ownership since time immemorial by indigenous populations. The landmark ruling, now referred to as the “Mateo Cariño doctrine,” has been used even in arguing land ownership cases filed by the Indians in Canada and the United States and by the Maoris in New Zealand, in addition to the Philippines. Cariño said it was a hundred times painful for the Cariños that while their forefather’s legal victory had resulted in the award of ancestral lands to tribal folk elsewhere in the world, it has not resulted in any such benefit for his descendants. “It’s now 2010, so our long wait for justice is more than a hundred years old,” Cariño said.

NCIP TRAMPLES IBALOI LAND RIGHTS OVER CHUYO

Press Statement

Bayosa Ortega was the great granddaughter of Kidit, the hero of the battle of Tonglo during the Spanish colonial period. Kidit’s son, Minse Apulog, likewise a prominent leader, persuaded an influential cousin in Tublay, Pablo Carino, to give his son Mateo Cariño in marriage to his granddaughter Bayosa. Through this marriage between Bayosa and Mateo, the important Baguio branch of the Cariño family was established.

Certain areas in Baguio are linked to the residences of specific Ibaloy families. The area of Chuyo (a plateau in the present-day Green Valley), the central section of Kafagway (a grassy clearing in the basin now covered by Burnhan Park, City Hall and surrounding areas) and Ypit and Lubas (now Camp John Hay) were the ancestral lands of the Cariños

Chuyo is an Ibaloy term meaning bowl. It is also an old Ibaloy place name referring to the Green Valley and Dontogan area of Baguio City. Bayosa Ortega Carino developed this land as pasture land and farm land, aside from setting up her residence in the area, even before the coming of the Americans. This fact is affirmed by accounts of original Ibaloy settlers and elders of Chuyo, aside from historical accounts by historians, like Otto Scheerer, during the early years of the American colonial regime. The government likewise recognized Bayosa and Mateo Carino’s ownership with the issuance of an approved survey plan, duly approved by the Director of Lands as early as 1920 covering 325 hectares in Chuyo. Bayosa was also able to get a Tax Declaration over the Chuyo property in her name dated July 6, 1929.

However, these legal documents provided no protection to Bayosa when President Manuel Quezon signed Executive Proclamation 603 in 1940 expropriating two lots within Chuyo without rightful compensation “for animal breeding station purposes, under the administration of the Director of Animal Industry.” The declared government reservation covers 94 hectares of Chuyo, that is now the site of the Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Animal Industry and Baguio Stock Farm.

Thus the Carino’s were deprived of their rights to this prime piece of land through its declaration as a government reservation. Government buildings were built in the area - DA, Phivolcs, BAI, including residential structures of government employees - that continue to stand on this property.

After the inclusion in the 1987 Constitution of a provision recognizing indigenous peoples rights especially to ancestral land, many indigenous groups showed interest in acquiring paper titles for their lands.

On 9/05/90 the Carinos filed application with DENR-STFAL for 329.6604 hectares located at Chuyo, Tuba, Benguet and Baguio City signed by Atty. Albert Caoili and Atty. Sinai C. Hamado pursuant to SO#31, Series of 1990 and DENR DC No.03, series of 1990 and denominated as Docket nos. BG-J-286A and BG-J-286B.

After some months, on 12/18/91, Danilo Luna of DENR-STFAL gave an investigation report of ocular inspection of the claim which was favorable and mentions that the documents attached to the Carino application were authenticated, particularly approved plan II-13320 of 1920 and Tax Declaration No. 244/31 issued by the municipality of Tuba on July 6, 1929.

The processing of papers slowly progressed through many years and several terms of NCIP commissioners, until it reached the office of the President, awaiting approval. After many years of inaction on the claim and the subsequent passage of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), the Carinos re-filed their application over Chuyo on 11/22/99 with the NCIP Regional Director Amador Batay-an under IPRA.

However, a hindrance arose with the entry of bogus claimants in the persons of Heirs of Paus. Using false papers, but with the backing of then NCIP Chairperson Dave Dao-as, the Heirs of Paus were able to file an application for CALT over parts of Chuyo. In particular, the false claim of Paus covered the area of the BAI reservation using fraudulent papers such as a special work order and genealogy. The file of the Carino claim over Chuyo had also mysteriously disappeared in the process and the NCIP Baguio office said that they had no complete file of the Carino claim.

On 1/30/04 the Carinos Filed Protest to Petition for Validation of Certificate of Ancestral Land Claim and for Issuance of Certificate of Ancestral Land Title against the heirs of Ikang Paus with docket no. NCIP BC-0122-GVJ as being fraudulent.

Because of the requirement that the Carino claim be processed at the NCIP Baguio office, the Heirs of Mateo Cariño and Bayosa Ortega (HMCBO) also re-filed an application for CALT over Chuyo on December 27, 2004 at the NCIP Baguio office with complete documents. The application was issued petition no. BC-0364-CJ.

The processing of our application for ancestral land claim over Chuyo by the NCIP Baguio Office has been inexplicably and painfully slow. Despite having been filed as early as September 1990 at the DENR, transmitted to the NCIP in 1999, and re-filed at the NCIP Baguio Office in 2004 in compliance with the requirements and procedures defined by the government, the Carino’s petition for Certificate of Ancestral Land Title over Chuyo has not been issued to this date.

We have done our best to abide by the procedures defined by the NCIP. However, we are dismayed that the NCIP itself violated its own procedures with regards the application of the Heirs of Ikang Paus over a piece of land overlapping with the Cariño claim at Chuyo.

Ms. Gladys Lasdacan of NCIP Baguio endorsed the Paus Claim to the NCIP Commission En Banc for their action, despite knowing fully well that the Cariños have a claim over the same area, despite a positive report made by Engr. Victor Bumatnong recommending the issuance of a survey work order for the validation survey over the Cariño claim over Chuyo, and despite the fact that the validation survey had been completed on November 14, 2009 and was just awaiting the report of Engr. Bumatnong.

On November 17, 2008, the Paus claim was suddenly and surreptitiously transmitted from the National NCIP Ancestral Domains Office to Baguio for completion. It is amazing that within a period of 2 weeks, the claim of the Heirs of Ikang Paus had been completed, processed and endorsed by NCIP Baguio to the NCIP Commission En Banc. This all happened while the Carino claim was stuck on file at the NCIP Baguio office without being acted upon since it was filed with the DENR in 1990. We were not even informed that another overlapping claim had been filed and due process was never accorded to our claim. As indicated in the NCIP flow chart for processing ancestral lands, we should have been informed at the very least and a settlement process should have ensued as soon as the Paus claim had been transmitted to the Baguio office, as this covers the same piece of land, which is the subject of the Cariño claim.

Because the Cariños were treated unfairly by the NCIP Baguio, we filed an official protest and sought a speedy and fair resolution of this case at the national level by the Commission En Banc. We believe that our documents, unlike those of the Paus, would pass the scrutiny of anybody who is truly after the truth of the matter.

Despite all attempts for a fair and speedy resolution to the case, we were flabbergasted to learn that the NCIP had hastily approved the application of the Paus and issued them a CALT on March 2009 covering 69 hectares in Chuyo within the BAI reservation, even without closely studying the protest filed by Carino.

The Carinos filed 2 motions for reconsideration against the Paus CALT in 2009 but these were both denied by the NCIP En Banc. Instead, they approved Carino’s application for CALT over Chuyo in November 2009, however excluding the areas they had already granted to the Paus. In addition, they issued another CALT to the Paus covering 9 hectares in November 2009, antedating it so that it would again be excluded from the area recognized as the claim of the Carinos.

This is a sad day indeed for the rightful Ibaloy land owners of Chuyo. Even as we celebrate Baguio Ibaloy Day on February 23 marking the 100^th year of the decision on Native Title recognizing indigenous peoples rights to the land they have used and owned since time immemorial, we lament the gross violation of these rights by the NCIP itself, the very government agency that is tasked to advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Philippines.

ON LANDGRABBING BY NCIP

Statement of grandchildren of Dr. Jose M. Carino, Sr.

February 4, 2010

A century ago, our great grandfather Mateo Cariño, won the legal battle for the recognition of indigenous peoples rights to their ancestral land. On February 23, 1909, the US Supreme Court decided that he had legitimate claim to Camp John Hay by virtue of “native title,” over those pasture lands which his family had developed since time immemorial. Mateo Cariño, however, did not live to claim his victory, neither have we his heirs seen the fruit of his historical legacy.

Now, a century later, another injustice has been perpetrated against the Cariño clan by no less than the very institution that has been created to protect indigenous peoples rights, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. The NCIP has wrongfully awarded the area known as the Dairy Farm, Bureau of Animal Industry to the Heirs of Ikang Paus notwithstanding the fraudulence of their claim, with complete disregard for the earlier and legitimate claim of the Heirs of Mateo and Bayosa Cariño over said area, and in direct violation of their own rules and procedures.

For the record, the Cariño claim dates back to September 6, 1990 when the Community Special Task Force on Ancestral Lands of the DENR was first set up, with a complete and fully documented submission in 1995 (The Bayosa Ortega Case Over Chuyo), transmitted from the DENR to the NCIP in 1999, and refiled at the NCIP Baguio Office in 2005 in full compliance with the requirements and procedures defined by the government. Investigation and authentication of the claim by the DENR CSTFAL began in 1991. The DENR made a favorable recommendation to the Bayosa Case Over Chuyo, said decision penned by Atty. Danilo Luna and Guillermo Fianza, which was part of the file transmitted to the NCIP.

On the other hand, the Paus claim was spurious from the start. The Heirs of Ikang Paus presented a Certification dated 09 May 2003 from the NCIP with Control No. ADO-ALC-0001 signed by a certain Noela P. Zunega on behalf of Mr. Benedict Lumauig certifying that they filed a petition docketed as BC-0122-GVJ for recognition and delineation of Ancestral Land Claim. However, as per Memorandum Order No. 256, Series of 2003, dated 09 June 2003, issued by Atty. Reuben Dasay A. Lingating, then Chairman of NCIP, said certification was revoked and recalled for “being patently illegal, a gross misrepresentation and in direct violation of the undersigned’s Memorandum No. 1, Series of 2003 directing Ms. Zuñega to refrain from making major decision (sic) related to ADO. XXX The issuance is null and void from the start.” From this memorandum, the Heirs of Ikang Paus did not even have a legitimate ancestral land claim as of 2003.

While the processing of our ancestral land claim over Chuyo has been inexplicably and painfully slow, the Paus claim which had already been declared illegitimate by the former NCIP chairman was suddenly unearthed and approved by the present NCIP en banc in an unbelievably fast manner. The Paus claim (which was non-existent as per above memorandum) was suddenly transmitted from the National NCIP Ancestral Domains Office to the Baguio office on November 17, 2008, with instructions to fast-track the application. This is in clear violation of the NCIP’s own guidelines that the process of filing should start at the local office, which was why we had to refile our claim at the Baguio office notwithstanding that our files have been with the NCIP since 1999, and with the DENR since 1990.

Within a period of 2 weeks after the transmittal from the national office, the resurrected claim of the Heirs of Ikang Paus had been completed, processed and endorsed by NCIP Baguio to the NCIP Commission En Banc. We were not informed about this, nor were we accorded due process. As indicated in the NCIP flow chart for processing ancestral lands, we should have been informed at the very least and a settlement process should have ensued as soon as the Paus claim had been transmitted to the Baguio office, as this covers the same piece of land which is the subject of the Cariño claim.

We filed a protest against the Paus Claim at the NCIP Regional Hearing Office on December 8, 2008. The Regional Hearing Officer did not investigate the issues cited in the protest nor did he hear the case. He was of the position that the case was no longer under his jurisdiction, as the Paus claim was already up for decision at the Commission En Banc. He simply advised the Commission to take our protest into consideration in their deliberation on the Paus claim. Again, this violates NCIP procedure as disputes at the local level should be heard by the Regional Hearing Officer, not the Commission En Banc. The Regional Hearing Officer even admitted that there was irregularity in the swiftness of action on the revived Paus claim, with the push coming from the national office.

Inspite of our protest, and without affording us due process, the NCIP En Banc approved the fraudulent claim and awarded the area which had already been surveyed for the Cariño claim to the Heirs of Ikang Paus on March 19, 2009.

Since then, the Cariño clan has frantically tried all possible administrative measures to seek justice, like filing motions for reconsideration and even going to Malacañang to meet with the Oversight Secretary over the NCIP Silvestre Bello, but to no avail.

We are outraged at the injustice and the swiftness of the landgrab perpetrated by the NCIP under Chairman Eugenio Insigne, under the office of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. If the NCIP can do this to the Cariño clan, with our legacy of the doctrine of Native Title, what more to the other marginalized indigenous peoples all over the country.

Adding insult to injury, the NCIP En Banc thinks that we can be appeased by passing two resolutions (En Banc resolution Nos. 110 and 111, series of 2009) recognizing Ibaloi Chief Mateo Cariño as the father of the Doctrine of Native Title, and seeking to erect a monument in his honor and rename Camp John Hay after him. The gall! They grab your land, give it to fake claimants for whatever anyone can speculate they got in exchange, and then give you a resolution honoring your great grandfather!

Next, they pass En Banc Resolution 125 dated November 20, 2009 denying our second motion for reconsideration seeking cancellation of the Certificates of Ancestral Land Title given to Paus, but awarding the “remaining portions in their (Cariño) favor covering areas that are not the subject of conflict with the Heirs of Ikang Paus or opposed by them or areas that were awarded to them.”

The NCIP now wants to blunt our outrage by offering us the leavings from the NCIP-Paus landgrab. They are banking that in our desperation, we will be satisfied with the crumbs. But they also still continue to carve out sections from the leavings and continually award them to Paus, such as a recent pre-dated resolution.

Our great grandfather, Ibaloi chieftain Mateo Cariño, although unlettered, fought a long-running court battle, Cariño vs. Insular Government, that lasted 6 years and reached all the way to the US Supreme Court. Can we, his heirs, dishonor his legacy?

As we prepare to commemorate the 101^st Anniversary of the Doctrine of Native Title on February 23, 2010 with the celebration of the first Ibaloi Day in Baguio City, we, the heirs of Dr. Jose M. Cariño, the fourth child of Mateo Cariño and Bayosa Ortega, denounce the landgrabbing perpetrated by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, the very institution that is supposed to protect indigenous peoples rights. We vow to pursue our struggle to reclaim Chuyo/BAI, and are now considering our legal options, aside from taking the case to the bar of public opinion, and to the United Nations.