City opposes ancestral domain title issuance

Sunday, February 19, 2012

THE local government has asked the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to quash or withdraw the certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) issued to an indigenous cultural community in Zamboanga City’s west coast.

The area falls under the jurisdiction of the Zamboanga Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (Zamboecozone).

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

“The CADT was issued despite several objections of the City Government and the Zamboecozone,” Mayor Celso Lobregat said.

Lobregat has convened last February 11 a meeting of concerned agencies, including Deputy House Speaker and first district Representative Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar where it was confirmed by the NCIP that the agency has already issued the CADT to the Limpapa Labuan Patalon Subanon
Indigenous Cultural Community.

The CADT covers 7,850 hectares of land within the villages of Limpapa, Labuan and Patalon and more than 4,546 hectares of waters of the Celebes Sea within the coast of the three villages.

Lobregat has lamented that the NCIP still proceeded with the survey and the issuance of the certificate of application for titling notwithstanding the opposition raised by the City Government through council resolutions and position papers from the Zamboecozone Board as early as 2007.

The City Council has approved four resolutions on August 23, 2007 interposing strong opposition to the community’s petition/application for a CADT with the NCIP over a huge portion of public land located at the villages of Limpapa, Labuan and Patalon and the coastal seas thereof and authorizing the city mayor to make representations before the concerned government agencies expressing the city’s stand, as well as undertake necessary administrative or legal action to protect the interest of Zamboanga City.

Records show that land area claimed is within the jurisdiction of the Zamboecozone per Presidential Proclamation 1099 following the creation of the economic zone through Republic Act 7903.

The waters being claimed forms part of the 15-kilometer municipal waters of Zamboanga City as defined under the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 and City Ordinance 2002-89 or the fisheries ordinance of the City of Zamboanga.

Following the four City Council resolutions, the City Government on filed August 31, 2007 its position paper interposing strong opposition before the NCIP.

The Zamboecozone also filed its position paper strongly opposing the said application and or issuance for CADT.

The City Government’s and Zamboecozone’s opposition was based on the provisions of Section 56 of RA 8371 or the IPRA law, which emphasizes that property rights within the ancestral domains already existing and or vested upon the effectivity of the said act, shall be recognized and respected.

As this developed, the City Council during its regular session last Wednesday approved a resolution reiterating the city’s opposition to the application and or issuance of the CADT to the said community.

The City Council also requested through a resolution the Registrar of Deeds of the Land Registration Authority for the city not to register the CADT issued by the NCIP. (Bong Garcia)