Republic of the Philippines

11th Judicial Region

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT-BRANCH 31
Tagum City, Davao del Norte

HEIRS OF ONONGAN MANDAYA CIVIL CASE NO. 4328

Represented by
FELIPE DE LOS SANTOS For: DECLARATION OF
Plaintiffs OF OWNERSHIP etc.

-versus-

SERGIO CARPENTERO
MAXIMA LACAOLACAO
LOLITA DE LOS NIEVES
ANGELES ALBISO JR.
JOVENTINA CABARAL
BRIGEDA BOLACOY
EDITHA ALONZO
SERGIO ALBISO SR.
DANIEL ALBISO
BENJAMIN ALBISO

LAND MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Region XI DENR Davao City

THE REGISTER OF DEEDS

Davao del Norte
Defendants
X-----------------X

DECISION

This case which was filed in the year 2012 was handled by three Judges.
Judge Rowena Adlawan to whose Branch of Court it was originally raffled failed
to conduct a successful Judicial Dispute Resolution. It was transferred to our
Branch of Court where it was initially handled by Acting Presiding Judge
Susana Baua. Later, we took over.

Plaintiffs are indigenous Filipinos of the Mandaya tribe at Sagayen,

Asuncion, Davao del Norte. They come to Court seeking to recover their
ancestral land which is now occupied by and titled in the name of herein
defendants.

Plaintiffs claim that Onongan Mandaya had four children, namely:

1. Isidro (who died in 1969) - child:

Violeta married to Felipe de los Santos – children:
Rolando, Elmera, Risa, Chini, Fate, Aner and Paul

2. Julia (who died in 1962) – children:

Carlos Onongan Perez and Inday Gamay Onongan

3. Cacho or Cacacho (a half-brother who died in 1989) – children:

Elvie and Joselito (Jojo)

4. Antonio – no children

According to plaintiffs’ witnesses: Attorney-in-fact (Exhibit A) Felipe De

los Santos, Joel Donlog who is a relative and a neighbor and Mariano Tibay
who is a tribal leader of Mandaya Tribe and neighbor, that:

Onongan Mandaya was a farmer and his land was more or less 14
hectares located at Sitio Casilak, Barangay Sagayen, Asuncion, Davao del
Norte. The land is identified as Lot 784, Cad 283. When Onongan Mandaya
died, his son Isidro (father-in-law of attorney-in-fact Felipe de los Santos)
continued in the cultivation of the land. Then when Isidro died, his brother
Cacacho took over and when Cacacho passed away, his children Elvie and
Jojo, together with cousins Carlos Perez and Inday Onogran who are children
of Julia, and also cousins Violeta, daughter of Isidro and her husband, Felipe
de los Santos all helped in the cultivation of the land.

Sometime in 1979, trouble occurred in their place, between the New

People’s Army (NPA) and the government soldiers. Onongan Mandaya’s
children were forced to leave their land, and was only allowed to visit it, if
permitted by the soldiers.

It was about this time that the father of defendant Albiso was able to
enter the land of the Onongan Mandaya. Then much later, Felipe de los
Santos discovered that Land No. 784 was already titled in the name of the
defendants.

Engr. Kay Habib of the Land Management Services of the Department

of Environment and Natural Resources, Region XI presented documents
Reconstructed Lot Data Computation (Exhibit B), Technical Description
(Exhibit C) and Lot Description (Exhibit D) which documents were certified
correct by her co-employee Valmonte Pino.

In the said documents of Land Management Services, it indicates that

the claimant is Onongan Mandaya.

Plaintiffs’ other documentary evidence Tax Declaration for the years

1994, 2000, 2003, 2009 and 2012 (Exhibits I and sub-markings) shows that
the stated owner is Onongan Mandaya.

Defendants claim, by way of the testimony of witnesses Eduardo

Fullante, Barangay Captain of Barangay Sagayen, defendants Brigida Bolacoy
and Benjamin Albiso, Avelosa Cabardo, Deputy Land Inspector of Department
of Environment and Natural Resources, substantiated by documents, that:

Angeles Albiso, the late father of defendants-siblings Albiso acquired the

parcel of land known as Lot 784 Cad. 283 located at Sagayen, Asuncion,
Davao del Norte from the children of Onongan Mandaya: Isidro, Julia and
Cacacho. A Relinquishment and Possession of A Parcel of Land dated May 5,
1966 was executed by Isidro Onongan, Julia Onongan at Cacaho Onongan,
and which was duly approved in the year 1991 by the Office of the Southern
Cultural Communities (Exhibit 1).

Since their father acquired the said parcel of land, Onongan children
Isidro, Julia and Cacacho and their children left and vacated the land. Then
the Albiso family entered, occupied and cultivated the land known as Lot 784.

Their father Angeles Albiso was shot to death in the year 1970 which
was the reason, their father was unable to apply for Patent. Then some of the
siblings, like Benjamin Albiso found employment with the Provincial
Engineer’s Office, but the other siblings continued to cultivate the land.

In the year 2009, they decided to divide and partition the land among
themselves and apply for a Free Patent (Exhibits 8 and 10). They submitted
all the required documents to the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources.

Land Inspector Avelosa Cabardo conducted an ocular inspection of Lot

784, and she saw that it was occupied and cultivated by the Albiso siblings
and that the claimant Onongan as stated in the Lot indez or any of his family
members were nowhere to be found in the subject land.

Barangay Captain Eduardo Fullante said that the Albiso family members
are one of the original settlers in their barangay. He issued a Certification
that they are the present occupants etc xxxxxxx But Fullante admitted that
plaintiff Joel Donlog went to his house asking that he sign a Certification that
they, plaintiffs are occupants of the said land. He told them to go to his office
so that he can examine their supporting documents, but Joel Donlog never
came back.