THE leader of an indigenous people's (Lumad) group insisted on Saturday, April 21, that they have legal claims on the 52-hectare property of the LS Corporation, a portion of which was eventually sold to UC-1 Corporation, the owner of Seven Seas Water Park and Resort in Opol town, Misamis Oriental.
Princess Pacita Salvan-Panis, chairwoman of the Mindanao Tribal Communities Association of the Philippines Inc. (Tricap), likewise blasted Opol town Mayor Maximino Seno for accusing them of extortion.
Panis claimed that as early as 1996, the Municipal Council of Opol had approved a resolution allowing the tribal group to develop the 52-hectare property, which is still then covered by fishpond lease.
In 1998, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Northern Mindanao wrote to the Land Management Bureau, recommending that the 25-hectare property should me made into a Tricap Resettlement Village. The 25-hectare property however is outside the fishpond lease area.
In 2000, Panis said they were able to secure an ancestral land title from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). The following year, she said the NCIP certified that Tricap as the original land claimant of Barrio Igpit, Opol, Misamis Oriental within the forest timberland areas.
Panis said Tricap wrote President Rodrigo Duterte on October 2016 urging the President to probe why it was not them but the LS Properties Inc. which was able to register as the owner of the land per records from the Land Registration Authority.
"We were about to develop the place after the fishpond lease expires in 2013, and the NCIP issued an ancestral land title in our favor, but how come the LS Corporation is claiming that they have a land title too? They are not from here, not from Opol," Panis said in a press conference last Saturday, April 21.
"This land is from our ancestors so I will fight for it, not for my own interest but for the interest of the entire tribal community," she said.
Her complaint was then forwarded to the Office of the Solicitor General and to the DENR. The DENR subsequently filed for the cancellation of all the titles of the claimants, including that of the LS Corporation, the UC-1, and the tribal group's title, asserting that the property is timberland and should remain a public domain.
Panis denied that her group had asked money and a part of the land, as alleged by Mayor Seno.
"Ayaw ingna nga mangingilad ang indigenous tribal people. Kami ang tinuod nga taga-Opol, ikaw dili taga-Opol, na-mayor ka lang diha (Don't say that the indigenous people are liars, we are natives of Opol, you aren't, you are just mayor). Dili ko makig-away nimo pero walay mag-apak apak dapat sa among karapatan (I am not after for a fight against the mayor, but we will fight our rights)," she added.
Panis, however, clarified that they are not pushing for the closure of the water park. She said they are welcome for talks with the water park owners, but only after a court decision has been rendered.
"But we will not sell what is rightfully ours to private companies," she insists.
Engineer Elpie Paras, president of the UC-1 Corporation, earlier said that a group is behind the move pushing for the cancellation of his title. Mayor Seno, for his part, supported this claim alleging that the group is the TRICAP.
Paras, meanwhile, maintained that the Opol Municipal Government also has supporting documents that will prove the area is for commercial use. Paras said the disputed land area where his water park sits was declared as a tourism zone through an ordinance.
He said the whole stretch -- starting from the beaches to the seaside restaurants in Opol until in the area where the water park is located -- were designated by the Municipal Government as part of a tourism zone based on its Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
He said this means that the area has always been meant for commercial use. Paras said the Municipal Government has required them to apply to the Department of Agrarian Reform and have the land converted from an agricultural land to a commercial land.
Misamis Oriental Governor Yevgeny Vincente Emano also supported Paras' claim saying that the property's classification is commercial, per report from the Capitol's assessor office.
Capitol Assessor Marilyn Legaspi in a letter, told Governor Emano that the land was reclassified from an agricultural land to commercial land, by virtue of a Municipal Council ordinance.