A pleasant good afternoon to all of us.
First of all we would like to thank our media friends for coming this afternoon to listen to us. It was in fact upon the prodding of sympathetic media friends that we were convinced to hold this press conference.
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.
The Cariño Doctrine of Native Title is now enshrined in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register and has 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.
Here in the Philippines, the Cariño Doctrine of Native Title was the basis for the enactment of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) and the establishment of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).
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.
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.
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.
Aside from specific cases within Baguio City, we are also receiving numerous alarming reports of likewise questionable transactions of the NCIP in other indigenous peoples’ 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 the ancestral land claims of indigenous peoples.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment