04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly tribes, filed a complaint[9] against petitioner before the Commission on the Settlement of Land Problems (COSLAP) seeking the cancellation of FLGLA No. 542 and the reversion of the land to the indigenous communities.[10] Private respondents, the Heirs of Datu Abdul B. Pendatun and the Heirs of the Sabal Mula Gawan Clan (respondents-intervenors), claiming to represent the B'laan and Maguindanaoan tribes, aver that they have always possessed the land until the first settlers occupied the area.[11] They claim that among those who took the land by force was petitioner's predecessor, Conrado Alcantara. They narrate that in 1962, some of their tribal leaders tried to re-take the land, but failed because the wellarmed settlers repelled them.[12] The incident, in fact, led to the killing of two of their leaders.[13] Petitioner filed an answer to the complaint questioning the authority of the COSLAP and alleged that it was the secretary of the DENR who should have jurisdiction to administer and dispose of public lands.[14] Petitioner also contended that the COSLAP should suspend the hearing of the case, as the DENR was then hearing a similar controversy. [15] In 1993, despite the pendency of the COSLAP case, and despite opposition from private respondents, petitioner was able to renew FLGLA No. 542 when it expired that year. [16] The renewal given to petitioner was for another 25 years, or until December 31, 2018.[17] Meanwhile, on October 29, 1997, Congress passed Republic Act No. 8371, or the Indigenous People's Rights Act (IPRA), which was intended to recognize and promote all the rights of the country's Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) within the framework of the Constitution.[18] On August 3, 1998, the COSLAP rendered its decision, the dispositive portion of which reads as follows: WHEREFORE, the foregoing considered, judgment is hereby RENDERED in favour of the complainants and against the Respondents as follows: 1. Recommends to the Hon. Secretary of DENR the cancellation of respondent's renewed Forest Land Grazing Lease Agreement (FLGLA) No. 542; 2. Recommending to the DENR to the immediate segregation of the Three Hundred (300) hectares requested by complainants from the Nine Hundred Twenty Three (923) Hectares; 3. Recommending to the DENR to declare the entire area of the Nine Hundred Twenty Three (923) Hectares, the ancestral lands of the B'laans; 4. Recommending to the DENR after the Cancellation of FLGLA No. 542, to place in possession the petitioners in order to start cultivation and plant crops for their food and solve the on-going elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/46133 2/15