Construction of PNP facility, housing opposed

THE provincial government of Davao Occidental is opposing the proposed construction of the Philippine National Police (PNP) training facility and housing project inside the ancestral domain of Manobo and B’laan tribes in Barangay Kalbay here in the town of Jose Abad Santos (JAS).

In an interview, Gov. Claude Bautista said the proposed project was initiated by Gregorio Day, who claimed to be a provincial Indigenous Peoples mandatory representative. Bautista said Day donated a total of 30 hectares of land for the building of the PNP training facility and housing project.

In Day’s letter to the Office of PNP Director for Human Resource and Doctrine Development MGen. Bartolome Bustamante in Camp Crame, Quezon City on April 23, 2021, he stated that he is the holder of a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) of the Manobo and B’laan Tribes in the municipality of JAS, which covers 72,000 hectares.

Day said the construction of the project in the area is necessary to protect and promote the interest and well-being of the members of the tribes as well as the maintenance of peace and order in the community.

However, the governor insisted that the land under ancestral domain was owned by members of the tribal community. In this case, he said, Day has no legal personality to donate the said piece of land since he does not possess the legitimate title of the land nor the title of Provincial Chieftain of the Manobo and B’laan tribes.

Bautista said Day cannot give what he does not own nor represent a tribal community in which he is not legitimately installed as such by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

On April 26, 2021, Bautista wrote a letter to Bustamante, citing reasons for his objection to the proposed PNP project.

“As the local chief executive of the province, it is my call to protect my area of jurisdiction, especially the Indigenous Peoples (IP) community. I will not tolerate exploitation and vitiated consent in donating, selling, disposing or destroying ancestral lands at the disadvantage and expense of IPs,” the letter stated.

Bautista also said as a local government unit (LGU), the LGU has the autonomy in its area of jurisdiction and that all transactions, projects and programs must pass through to the governor’s office.

Likewise, the governor warned the PNP official that he will be forced to call the attention of the Office of Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary and the Office of the President of the Philippines should the PNP pursue the project.

“It is obviously suspicious and malicious that the site of the proposed projects is very far from the essential and principal population of the province,” the governor said.

Bautista also questioned the conduct of environmental and social scanning inspection in the area by the PNP Composite teams from Special Action Force, Regional Office 11 and Police Regional Office 12.

“It is very unlikely that your PNP composite teams will conduct an ocular inspection where in fact, we don’t even know who donated the land. It is unusual that there has never been proper coordination with the provincial government of Davao Occidental as to the veracity of the pertinent legal requirements and documents to ascertain the approximation and acquisition of the area proposed for the said project,” Bautista stated in his letter to Bustamante.

According to Bustamante in his letter on April 29 to Bautista, the said ocular inspection is only part of due diligence in order to determine the feasibility of the project. Likewise, there is a need to conduct environmental and social scanning before the PNP will recommend the project and in order to attain inputs and recommendations from all sectors in the nearby community.