Scrap Presidential Proclamation No. 310 (PP 310)

Here's the latest on PP310..... During the latest Board of Regents meeting held in CDO on 12 March 2009, the board has acceded to the request of the ICCs/IPs thru the NCIP at the instigation of Dr. William C. Medrano (CHED Commissioner and Chair CMU BOR) to proceed with the delineation survey of the 670 has. proclaimed to be segrated from the 3080 has. titled land of CMU. This is despite the protestation of the CMU community wherein only the ICCs/IPs (indigenous communities/indigenous peoples) and the NCIP (national commission for indigenous peoples) were granted audience by the board during the said meeting and despite the objection of our faculty and alumni regents who voted NO to the survey with the OIC abstaining. The yes votes were cast by the student regent (in consonance to the stand of his parents and relatives), the Regional Directors of DOST, DA and NEDA, the House and Senate representatives. All of this also in spite of the Board's agreement during their December 2008 BOR m

To:  Philippine Congress, Malacañan Palace, Philippine Senate

We are not in favor of the Presidential Proclamation No. 310 (PP 310)!


BACKGROUND ON PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION NO. 310 (PP 310)

This is a presentation on relevant background information relative to PP 310 and its ramifications on the operations of Central Mindanao University.

• Central Mindanao University (CMU) is a chartered state educational institution established by virtue of Republic Act No. 4498 with campus located at University Town, Musuan, Maramag, Bukidnon.

• In 1946, CMU, then Bukidnon National Agricultural High School (BNAS), took possession over its landholdings.

• On January 16, 1958, President Carlos P. Garcia issued Proclamation No. 476 entitled “Reserving for the Mindanao Agricultural College (MAC, forerunner of CMU) Site Purposes Certain Portions of the Public Domain Situated in the Barrio of Musuan, Municipality of Maramag, Province of Bukidnon, Island of Mindanao”. By virtue of said Proclamation, a total of 3,401 hectares of the public domain was reserved for MAC.

• In 1961, CMU applied for title over its land reservation and for this purpose instituted land registration proceedings before the CFI of Bukidnon, 15th Judicial District, Br. II.

• During the land registration proceedings, possessors, occupants and adverse claimants were duly notified and given opportunity to evidence their claims. Among the claimants who opposed CMU’s petition were several tribes belonging to cultural communities. The decision of the cadastral court was amended twice to accommodate those who initially

• As a result of the cadastral proceedings, a total of 321 hectares were segregated from CMU’s land reservation and distributed to the legitimate claimants. The remaining 3,080 hectares adjudicated to it by the CFI of Bukidnon were titled in its name on January 25, 1975. The University now holds in its name, Original Certificates of Title No. O-160, No. O-161 and No. O -162.

• The University has since developed its landholdings not only as site for its academic and administrative buildings but also for its various income generating projects (IGPs), which in 2007, has generated for CMU P 12,555,320.15 and in 2008, P 10, 405, 657.28.

• The University’s land area was the subject of agricultural tenancy claims in the past but the Supreme Court in CMU vs. DARAB, (G.R. No. 100091, Oct. 22, 1992) struck down said claims. In finding for the University, the high court pronounced that CMU’s lands are “not alienable and disposable land of the public domain” and that “as to the determination of when and what lands are found necessary for use by the CMU, the school is in the best position to resolve and answer the questions x x x”.

• The titled land area of CMU has also been the subject of ancestral lands and domain claims by several groups, some of whom have filed their claims before the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) but to this date, NCIP has not made any determination on said claims.

• On 22 May 2002 Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles then Lead Convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission conducted a meeting with Commissioner Reuben Lingating of NCIP and Dr. Mardonio M. Lao, CMU President. During said meeting Secretary Deles discussed a directive allegedly issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to delineate ancestral lands from the titled land of CMU. The directive was purportedly based on the “President’s assessment that CMU has far too much lands than what it actually needs for its purpose,” and that “the Macapagal-Arroyo administration is committed to providing security of tenure to marginalized sectors, and in this regard, has undertaken the segregation of public lands not actually used for their intended purposes and distribute these to the urban and other marginalized sectors”.

• During said meeting with Secretary Deles, the CMU President expressed his reservations regarding the alleged presidential directive explaining that the delineation of ancestral domains within CMU will face legal impediments in view of CMU’s possession of Original Certificates of Title in its name over the subject lands, and, further because of the Supreme Court decision in the aforecited case of CMU vs. DARAB. In response to the issues raised by CMU, Secretary Deles stressed that “the CMU as a state university is within the ambit of the sovereign state and that the disposition of the lands within the CMU remains to be the prerogative of the President.”

• On January 7,2003, the Office of the President issued Presidential Proclamation No. 310 entitled “Establishing A Reservation For The Use And Settlement of The Members of the Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) in Barangay Musuan, Municipality of Maramag, Province Of Bukidnon, Island Of Mindanao, Philippines, And For this Purpose Withdrawing Six Million Seven Hundred Thousand (6,700,000) Square Meters Of The Reservation Established In Favor Of The Mindanao Agricultural College (Now Central Mindanao University) Under Proclamation No. 476 dated January 16, 1958.”

• On April 3, 2003, CMU filed a Petition for Prohibition before the RTC of Bukidnon, 10th Judicial Region, to seek for a judgment declaring the nullity, illegality and unconstitutionality of PP 310 and for the issuance of a writ of prohibition directing and commanding all of the respondents to cease and desist from implementing, executing and/or enforcing PP 310.

• In its Decision dated October 27, 2003, the RTC dismissed CMU’s petition on the ground that no legal impediment exists in the implementation of PP 310.

• CMU appealed the decision of the RTC before the Court of Appeals-Mindanao Station on May 3, 2004 which dismissed the appeal on March 14, 2008 on the ground that it has no jurisdiction as the appeal raises only questions of law and therefore falls within the exclusive appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. CMU’s Motion for Reconsideration of said Decision was denied.

• The Office of the President, CMU, received a Memorandum dated October 28, 2008 issued by Cerge M. Remonde then Secretary, Presidential Management Staff addressed to the CMU BOR on the subject “President’s Instruction to Implement Presidential Proclamation No. 310 Dated 07 January 2003.”

• On November 11, 2008, CMU filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari (With Prayer for Issuance of Status Quo Ante or Temporary Restraining Order) before the Supreme Court.


The LEGAL ARGUMENTS on which the position of the University with regard PP 310 is founded, are the following:

1. The withdrawal is without due process of law and without just compensation.

2. The President is without legal power and authority to withdraw lands from CMU’s landholdings for the reasons that:

a.) CMU’s lands are not alienable and disposable lands of the public domain,
b.) CMU’s lands are private lands registered and titled in the name of its lawful owner,
c.) CMU’s lands and titles thereon are free from any liens, claims and burdens of whatsoever character-known or unknown, just or unjust,
d.) CMU’s lands are not covered by RA 8371 (Indigenous Peoples Rights Acts) because it already had existing and vested rights over said lands at the time of the affectivity of RA 8373 pursuant to Sec. 56 thereof,
e.) CMU’s lands are exempt from the coverage of R.A. 8371 because said lands are exclusively devoted to educational purposes which constitute “common and public welfare service” and therefore not subject to any ancestral domain claims under Section 7 (a) of R.A. 8371.

3. The Office of the President, or any other person or entity, has no legal right and authority to substitute its judgment or discretion on when and what lands are found necessary for use by CMU because only CMU is in the best position to resolve and answer the question and pass upon the problem of its needs in relation to its avowed objectived.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Scrap Presidential Proclamation No. 310 (PP 310) Petition to Philippine Congress, Malacañan Palace, Philippine Senate was created by Central Mindanao University Alumni and written by CMU Alumni (cmubukidnon@ymail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.