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promulgation and shall be appealable by certiorari only to the Supreme
Court. (Emphasis supplied.)
The Court of Appeals also stated that based on the records, the the land area being
claimed by private respondents belongs to the B'laan indigenous cultural community
since they have been in possession of, and have been occupying and cultivating the
same since time immemorial, a fact has not been disputed by petitioner.[12] It was
likewise declared by the appellate court that FLGLA No. 542 granted to petitioner
violated Section 1 of Presidential Decree No. 410[13] which states that all
unappropriated agricultural lands forming part of the public domain are declared part
of the ancestral lands of the indigenous cultural groups occupying the same, and
these lands are further declared alienable and disposable, to be distributed
exclusively among the members of the indigenous cultural group concerned.
The Court finds no reason to depart from such finding by the appellate court, it being
a settled rule that findings of fact of the Court of Appeals are binding and conclusive
upon the Supreme Court absent any showing that such findings are not supported
by the evidence on record.[14]
WHEREFORE, the petition is hereby DENIED.
SO ORDERED.
Davide, Jr., C.J., (Chairman), Puno, Pardo, and Ynares-Santiago, JJ., concur.
[1] Nicasio I. Alcantara, Petitioner vs. Commission on the Settlement of Land
Problems, Secretary of Department of Environment and Natural Resources Antonio
Cerilles, The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Rolando Paglangan,
et al., Respondents.
[2] Petition, Rollo, p. 9.
[3] Rollo, pp. 93-95.
[4] Republic Act No. 8371, "An Act to Recognize, Protect and Promote the Rights of
Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples, Creating a National
Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Establishing Implementing Mechanisms,
Appropriating Funds Therefor, and for Other Purposes (1997).
[5] Petition, Rollo, pp. 20-28.
[6] Comment, Id., at 137-139.
[7] Id., at 146-147.
[8] Id., at 150.
[9] Amended Complaint-in-Intervention, p. 2.
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