Sarangani officer claims death threat over land claim

THE head of the Register of Deeds ( RD) of Sarangani province claimed he was threatened with death after refusing to register the land titling application of a claimant clan over an 800-hectare pasture land in Maasim town.

Jonathan Domantay, RD head based in Alabel town, told The Manila Times that he has been receiving death threats when he refused to register the land titling application of a clan involved in the ancestral land domain claim over the vast property in Barangay Tinoto.

The property, which the B’laan and Maguindanaon tribes contested as their ancestral domain is being leased by Lilia Mirabueno, owner of the Mirabueno Farm based in General Santos City.

However, Datu Tungko Saikol, former regional executive director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-12) explained that the 800- hectare landholdings is a pasture land and applied as ancestral domain claims by the clans of Martin Modia and Ismael which is currently subject of a legal battle.

He said his report on the matter has been submitted to the DENR

Despite the court battle, the disputed pasture land has been titled to various individuals allegedly

The RD’s approval of the land titling application for the 800- hectare was allegedly applied based on the decision of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples’ ( NCIP) favorable approval of awarding the land area as ancestral domain claim of Modia clan which defeated the claim of Ismael clan who raised their case to the Court of Appeals.

It was learned that the Modia clan had an arrangement with titling application allegedly for a titled under the clan’s claim.

Meanwhile, Mirabueno refused to comment on her involvement on the Modia and Ismael clans’ claims. Lawyer Orly Mirabueno, said he has advised his sister Lilia not to get involved in the disputed land as it will only cause serious legal problem.