Kalinga tribe hails NCIP ruling

MANILA, Philippines - The Balatoc tribe in Pasil town, Kalinga province yesterday hailed the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for continuously “championing the cause of the indigenous cultural communities against extra-legal incursions by vested interest.”

Balatoc tribal leader Victor Gumisa was reacting to reports that the NCIP recently upheld the ownership claim by an Ibaloi family to a prime property along Session Road in Baguio City that holds Casa Vallejo, reputedly the oldest hotel in the country’s summer capital.

Speaking in Ilocano, Gumisa cited certain parallelisms in the Casa Vallejo case and the Batong-buhay mining controversy in Pasil.

The NCIP has ruled that the 2,160-square-meter Casa Vallejo lot was within the ancestral land of the Acop family which traces its roots to an ancient Ibaloi settler named Piraso.

In 2010, the NCIP granted the Acop family two certificates of ancestral land titles (CALTs) that included the Casa Vallejo lot.

The NCIP regional hearing office subsequently issued a writ allowing the Acops to take possession of the lots covered by their ancestral land titles.

Gumisa said in similar fashion, NCIP regional hearing officer Guillermo Kadatar has also upheld his tribe’s contention that their inherent rights as owners of ancestral land in Pasil were allegedly ignored by a consortium poised to conduct mining operations within their property.