OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF CENTRAL MINDANAO UNIVERSITY ON THE ALLEGED IMPENDING ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATE OF ANCESTRAL DOMAIN TITLE (CADT)

For years, some indigenous groups (IPs) have been claiming some portions of Central Mindanao University’s land as part of their ancestral domain. Recently, the group claimed that there is an impending issuance of CADT by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), segregating more than 2000 hectares of the University’s land.

For the information of the academic community and all concerned, the University has not received any notice or publication of any proceeding whatsoever to show that proper procedure was followed for the application of CADT. Also, no notification of delineation activities to stakeholders was made in accordance with the Revised Omnibus Rules on Delineation and Recognition of Ancestral Domains and Lands of 2012.

It should be noted that the latest decision of the Supreme Court in the lands of CMU is public knowledge in the case of CMU v. Republic. G.R. No. 195026 dated February 22, 2016, wherein the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision that “𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳, 𝘊𝘔𝘜 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘕𝘰. 476.”

The Supreme Court, in the case of CMU v. Executive Secretary, G.R. 184869 dated September 21, 2010, on the issue of whether or not Presidential Proclamation No. 310 issued by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that takes away 670 hectares of land from CMU’s property is unconstitutional, in its ratio decidendi wrote:

𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘈𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘰, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘈𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘔𝘜’𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴.

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴’ 𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘈𝘤𝘵 (𝘐𝘗𝘙𝘈) 𝘰𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘈𝘤𝘵 8371 𝘪𝘯 1997, 𝘪𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 56 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 “𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥/𝘰𝘳 𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥” 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 “𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥.” 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘔𝘜 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘴 1958. 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯 2003 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘗𝘙𝘈.

CMU needs its land for its continued existence and for it to be able to discharge its mandate. It has an actual need for its land resources not only for its present uses but also for its future development projects, as shown in its Land Use Plan. It bears stressing that the use of the subject lands by the University is vital for its very noble purpose, one which is over and beyond the selfish, transient, and very finite purposes of certain individuals.