04/02/2020
E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly
cease to exist and normalcy and safety of the previous settlements
are not possible, displaced ICCs/IPs shall enjoy security of tenure
over lands to which they have been resettled: Provided,
furthermore, That basic services and livelihood shall be provided to
them to ensure that their needs are adequately addressed;
e. Right to Regulate Entry of Migrants. - Right to regulate the entry of
migrant settlers and organizations into the domains;
f. Right to Safe and Clean Air and Water. - For this purpose, the
ICCs/IPs shall have access to integrated systems for the
management of their inland waters and air space;
g. Right to Claim Parts of Reservations. - The right to claim parts of
the ancestral domains which have been reserved for various
purposes, except those reserved and intended for common and
public welfare and service; and
h. Right to Resolve Conflict. - Right to resolve land conflicts in
accordance with customary laws of the area where the land is
located, and only in default thereof shall the complaints be
submitted to amicable settlement and to the Courts of Justice
whenever necessary. (Emphasis supplied.)
More significantly, the aforequoted provision provides that the right to ancestral
domain carries with it the right to "stay in the territory and not to be removed
therefrom." And the CADT was issued notwithstanding the existence of Presidential
Proclamation No. 1578, which recognized the existence of private rights already
extant at the time. Thus, although the issuance of the CADT in favor of the
Tagbanua ICC to develop, control, manage, and utilize Calauit does not affect the
propriety or impropriety of the execution of the Resettlement Agreements per se,
the same, however, gainsays the avowed consequence of said contracts, that is, to
remove and transfer the settlers from Calauit to the resettlement areas in Halsey
and Burabod.
Verily, in Gancho-on v. Secretary of Labor and Employment,[58] this Court
emphasized that:
It is a rule of universal application, almost, that courts of justice
constituted to pass upon substantial rights will not consider questions in
which no actual interests are involved; they decline jurisdiction of moot
cases. And where the issue has become moot and academic, there is no
justiciable controversy, so that a declaration thereon would be of no
practical use or value. There is no actual substantial relief to which
petitioners would be entitled and which would be negated by the
dismissal of the petition. (Citations omitted.)
From the above pronouncement, there is no justiciable controversy anymore in the
instant petition in view of the issuance of CADT. There is no longer any purpose in
determining whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the Decision of the RTC
since any declaration thereon would be of no practical use or value.
Clearly, any decision of this Court on the present petition, whether it be an
elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/61037
14/19