Law enforcers as lawbreakers

One hundred and one years ago this month the US Supreme Court historically settled a long-drawn court fight. It deemed, by virtue of native title, Ibaloi tribal chief Mateo Cariño to be the owner of much of what is now Camp John Hay and Baguio City proper. The Philippine Supreme Court would later reiterate the jurisprudence. And from it arose 1987’s constitutional basis for ancestral lands, and 1997’s creation of a National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

Ironically Cariño’s heirs are today taking the NCIP to court. They cry that the agency not only is delaying release of their ownership title. Worse, it recently titled part of their land to another Ibaloi clan.

The plot in question is all of 69 hectares, covering the Baguio Dairy Farm. Last Nov. the NICP gave a certificate of ancestral land title (CALT) to the heirs of Ikang Paus. The Cariños point to 14 breaches in the titling of the area that in olden times was called Shuyo. Three of the flaws pertain to very rules of the NCIP. First is its memo of Sept. 2009 that Baguio CALTs would be issued only after screening by the city mayor as head of urban planning and development. The Paus CALT went through no such review. Second is proof of possession, like tax declaration. The NICP previously had rejected the Paus claim for absence of such document. Third is proof of clan inter-relationship. The Cariños contend that their and the Paus family trees show no ties, and that photos only prove the latter to be Ibaloi, not relatives.

This is not the first time the NICP is facing hostility in Baguio. In 2008 City Hall protested its titling to yet another clan more than 23 hectares of the Forbes Park Reserve. The area consists of the Botanical Garden (now called Centennial Park, near Camp John Hay’s old gate), and six pumping stations of the city watershed. The NICP is under the Office of the President. Malacañang bigwigs are known to have built mansions in the disputed lands.

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High officials tasked with enforcing the law are the ones breaking it. This is the lament of Cavite Gov. Erineo Maliksi about the replacement of the provincial police chief in violation of law, court order, and election ban.

Interior Sec. Ronaldo Puno had yanked out Sr. Supt. Alfred Sotto Corpus on Jan. 6 without reason. Immediately Maliksi protested, saying the officer had done no wrong. On the contrary, Sotto, a top grad of PMA Class of ’87 and one of 2005’s Ten Outstanding Policemen, had busted several crime gangs in only four months in the post. Besides, Maliksi had not been given the mandatory short list of officers to choose from, unlike when Corpus and others were first recommended to him in Aug. In reply, Puno fired off a written relief order to Corpus the next day.

On Jan. 8 Maliksi filed with the court a temporary restraining order against Puno and PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa. The latter, the governor alleges, had broken his word that only right procedures would be followed for Corpus. The court granted a three-day TRO, till Jan. 11. Puno ignored it. Meantime, the election period set in on Jan. 10, barring him and other executive officials from hiring, firing and reassigning personnel. Puno ignored that too, and installed Sr. Supt. Primitivo Tabujara. That night the new police chief promptly set up and led a 50-man checkpoint in front of the governor’s house — in clear defiance of civilian authority.

Criminality has since rebounded, Maliksi reports. Homicides occur daily, with no witnesses coming forward because the populace has lost faith in the police. This week thousands of local, civic and business leaders signed a petition denouncing police preoccupation with things outside their purview. Maliksi foresees Corpus’s sacking as a portent of worse events. “They’ll use the PNP to cheat in the polls,” he says. “It could range from having the cops ignore election violations of the other side, to outright terrorizing of voters and fabricating false tallies.” Cavite has 1.7 million voters, far more than in Cebu or Pangasinan, and so can be made to tilt the election results. Maliksi only recently joined the opposition Liberal Party. Police chiefs in other opposition-held provinces, cities and towns have been similarly illegally removed. Among these provinces are: Pampanga, Isabela, Bulacan, Rizal, Capiz, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Tarlac, Zambales, Camarines Sur, Antique, Northern Leyte, and Surigao del Norte. And the cities and towns are: Caloocan, Pasig, Makati, Alaminos, Davao, Cabanatuan, Muñoz, Palayan. Gapan, Talavera, Guimba, Zaragosa, Quezon, San Isidro, Licab and Laur.

Maliksi fears most the escalation of criminality to election violence. If that happens, he says he will make sure Puno goes to jail even after the elections for triple violations in police chief replacements.

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“Union with God is the only lasting union. Oneness with God leads to oneness with people and creation.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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