Court of Appeals upholds TROs vs Baguio watershed demolitions

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The Court of Appeals (CA) recently favored the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) on its right to block demolitions in the Busol watershed, one of this resort city’s main sources of water that is swarmed with informal settlers.

The appellate court denied the city government’s petition for certiorari against the temporary restraining orders (TROs), which the NCIP issued against demolitions in Busol last year.

The CA’s Special Seventh Division, in an order last Aug. 5, ruled that the TROs issued by NCIP-Cordillera regional hearing officer Brain Masweng were “lawful,” as they were not given out improvidently or capriciously.

“This court cannot review the intrinsic correctness of the assailed issuances for the simple reason that a petition for certiorari is a remedy designed for a correction of errors in jurisdiction, not errors in judgment,” the CA division said.

Former mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. filed two cases against Masweng and the Busol informal settlers after the NCIP executive issued a 72-hour TRO against a demolition on July 27, 2009, as the informal settlers said they belonged to the Ibaloi and Kankana-ey tribes.

The TRO was later extended to 17 days.

The informal settlers argued that the demolition orders issued by the city government were invalid for lack of authority, as the NCIP, an agency tasked to promote and protect the rights and welfare of indigenous groups, had jurisdiction over the dispute.