By HEIRS OF MATEO CARIÑO
www.nordis.net

Open letter to Eugenio A. Insigne
Chairman, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
This is in response to the lead story in the People’s Journal Tonight, February 15, 2010, NCIP to Nat’l Heroes Heirs End Trial by Media! written by Tess Lapuz-Lardizabal.
Mr. Insigne, who are you to say that “nobody was authorized to come out with such a press release in the name of the family?”

We are the proud descendants of Mateo and Bayosa Cariño, grandchildren of his fourth child Dr. Jose Ma. Cariño. We have the right to say anything we please and nobody can say otherwise, especially since we speak the truth.

The truth is that the NCIP has perpetrated a landgrab by awarding the Baguio Dairy Farm to fraudulent claimants, the Heirs of Ikang Paus, and this can be ascertained by any independent investigation of the case.

The truth is that the fraudulent Paus claim was already denied in Land Registration Case No. N-29 in 1976, was revoked by the NCIP chaired by Reuben Dasay Lingating in 2003, but was resurrected and hastily approved by the NCIP under the chairmanship of Eugenio Insigne.

The truth is that this landgrab was approved by the committee en banc, and facilitated by the NCIP Baguio Office and Cordillera regional office without due process to the much earlier and legitimate claim of the Mateo and Bayosa Cariño Foundation. Insigne’s claim that he was out of the country at the time this was approved is irrelevant, as he is the chair of the Commission, and the commissioner from the Cordillera, and this would not have happened without his initiative and full backing.

The truth is that the survey which was made by Engineer Victor Bumatnong of the Baguio Office for the Cariño Foundation was instead used in the Paus application, and the Baguio NCIP Office through Gladys Lasdacan accomplished all requirements for Paus in a record two weeks time, while sitting on the Cariño application for years.

The truth is that the NCIP has violated its own rules and procedures, with the NCIP en banc arrogating unto itself the mandated functions of the Regional Hearing Officer after the Cariño Foundation filed its protest, thereby subverting due process.

The truth is that after the NCIP had awarded 68 hectares of the Baguio Dairy Farm to Paus, they made an offer to the Cariño Foundation to accept the remaining 25 hectares. While the Cariños were arguing over whether to accept the leavings or to expose the landgrab, the NCIP awarded an additional three lots to the Paus, thereby leaving only the crumbs for the Cariños. And crumbs stick in the throat and cannot be swallowed.

The truth is that the Certificates of Ancestral Land Title which have been awarded to Ibaloi families in Baguio by the NCIP have all come at a price. This is common knowledge, whether these families will admit to it publicly or not. While we fully support the legitimate claims of the Ibaloi claimants, we assert that the NCIP should not make the Ibaloi families feel that they are beholden since this is their birthright.

The truth is that the price which Ibaloi claimants have to pay in exchange for their CALTs is not only the percentage of their land which they have to give up for “administrative costs,” but perhaps even more so the infighting, dis-unity and further loss of dignity among the Ibaloi clans which the NCIP system engenders.
The truth is that the very institution that has been set up to protect the rights of indigenous peoples is the very mechanism for their further oppression.

Now, the NCIP wants to throw a cañao in Baguio City, and expects those who have been awarded CALTs to contribute for the occasion and endorse Chairman Insigne’s bid for congress through the partylist. Enough of this shame!

We call on all Ibalois in Baguio to unify and stand up for our dignity. Let us not allow ourselves to be treated so shabbily. Isimphet tan itakshel e shayaw tayo.
#
(Sgd) GREAT GRANDCHILDREN OF MATEO & BAYOSA CARIÑO, GRANDCHILDREN OF DR. JOSE MA. CARIÑO
Joanna K. Cariño, Jose K. Cariño III, Jocelyn Cariño, Jessica K. Cariño, Jack Cariño,Jill Cariño, Judith Cariño, Linda Grace T. Cariño, Leandro Mateo Cariño, Helena Cariño-Tolentino, Daniel Martin Cariño, Juanita Cariño-Espinosa
Roberto C. Pagano, Alfonso C. Pagano, Reynaldo C. Pagano# nordis.net