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.