Tuesday, February 05, 2008 SC told to review ruling on Busol claimants
PLANS of the Baguio City Government to fence the Busol forest and watershed from further encroachment by illegal settlers is currently on hold because of the existence of an injunctive order issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) since 2002 and which was upheld by the Court of Appeals (CA) in a decision issued last year.
This prompted the City Environment and Parks Management Office (Cepmo), the Busol Task Force and the Baguio Regreening Movement to file before the Supreme Court (SC) a petition for review of the CA decision.
While agreeing to the CA ruling that barred ancestral land claimants at Busol from further constructing structures, the petitioners argued the appellate court erred when it set aside their argument that NCIP hearing officer Brian Masweng went beyond his jurisdiction when he issued a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) and subsequently an injunction, in favor of six ancestral land claimants represented by Elizabeth Mat-an, Judith Maranes, Helen Lubos, Magdalena Que, Alexander and Lucia Ampaguey, Carmen and Melanio Panayo.
In a petition, the petitioners asked the SC to annul and set aside the CA decision, which sustained the barring of any infrastructure activity initiated by the government, to declare the TRO and writ of preliminary injunction of no force and effect and dismiss the pending petition for injunction filed by the claimants at the NCIP.
The group argued that there was no basis for Masweng to issue a TRO and an injunction because even while ancestral land claims were filed prior to the classification of their lots as part of the Busol reservation, the fact remains that it is not alienable having been classified as part of the reservation.
"The act being restrained and enjoined by the NCIP is the fencing of the Busol forest and watershed reservation, a government infrastructure project implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Baguio City District Engineering Office, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Office of the City Architect and Park Superintendent (Ocapos now Cepmo). The NCIP thus flagrantly violated this proscription when it issued the TRO and writ of preliminary injunction. Sadly, the CA, in sustaining the orders of the NCIP, has in effect condoned such a flagrant violation," a portion of the petition for review on certiorari stated.
The group also argued that the applicants does not have the right over any portion of the watershed because Baguio is exempt from the coverage of ancestral land claim applications, it being a chartered city and its lands having been classified as a townsite sales reservation. (RO)
