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residential and agricultural purposes. Found are the residential houses of
the applicants as well as those of their close relatives, while the other
areas planted to fruit trees, coffee and banana, and seasonal crops. Also
noticeable therein are permanent stone and earthen fences, terraces,
clearings, including irrigation gadgets.
On the matter of the applicant[s'] indiguinity [sic] and qualifications,
there is no doubt that they are members of the National Cultural
Communities, particularly the Ibaloi tribe.
They are the legitimate
grandchildren of Ap-Ap (one name) who lived along the Asin Road area.
His legal heirs are: Orani Ap-Ap, married to Calado Salda; Rita Ap-Ap,
married to Jose Bacacan; Sucdad Ap-Ap, married to Oragon Wakit; and
Gilbert Semon, a former vice-mayor of Tuba, Benguet, [who] adopted the
common name of their father Semon, as it is the customary practice
among the early Ibalois. x x x
On the matter regarding the inheritance of the heirs of Ap-Ap, it is
important to state [that] Gilbert Semon consolidated ownership thereof
and became the sole heir in 1964, by way of a "Deed of Quitclaim"
executed by the heirs in his favor. As to the respective share of the
applicants['] co-heirs, the same was properly adjudicated in 1989 with
the execution of an "Extrajudicial Settlement/ Partition of Estate with
Waiver of Rights."
With regard to the overlapping issue, it is pertinent to state that
application No. Bg-L-066 of Thomas Smith has already been denied by us
in our Resolution dated November 1997. As to the other adverse claims
therein by reason of previous conveyances in favor of third parties, the
same were likewise excluded resulting in the reduction of the area
originally applied from ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY SIX THOUSAND NINETY
(186,090) SQUARE METERS, more or less to ONE HUNDRED TEN
THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED FORTY TWO (110,342) SQUARE METERS,
more or less. Considering the foregoing developments, we find no legal
and procedural obstacle in giving due course to the instant application.
Now therefore, we hereby [resolve] that the application for Recognition of
Ancestral Land Claim filed by the Heirs of Gilbert Semon, represented by
Juanito Semon, be granted [and] a Certificate of Ancestral Land Claim
(CALC) be issued to the herein applicants by the Secretary, Department
of Environment and Natural Resources, Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon
City, through the Regional Executive Director, DENR-CAR, Diego Silang
Street, Baguio City. The area of the claim stated herein above is however
subject to the outcome of the final survey to be forthwith executed.
Carried this 23rd day of June 1998.[28]
The resolution was not signed by two members of the CSTFAL on the ground that
the signing of the unnumbered resolution was overtaken by the enactment of the
Republic Act (RA) No. 8371 or the Indigenous People's Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA).
The IPRA removed the authority of the DENR to issue ancestral land claim
certificates and transferred the same to the National Commission on Indigenous
elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/54595
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