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 Reuben Dasay A. Lingating, then Chairman of NCIP, said certification was revoked and recalled for “being patently illegal, a gross misrepresentation and in direct violation of the undersigned’s Memorandum No. 1, Series of 2003 directing Ms.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.