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.
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