DENR Regional Director Sultan Liambona71. (This supporting document would later be used by the heirs of Akang Simpal as also one of the documents used in the issuance of a title in their favor over the disputed lots.)
corporations to hold alienable disposable lands of the public domain except by lease. He went on to recommend for the approval of the Free Patent Application of the heirs of Akang Simpal, and forwarded it directly to the PENRO-DENR, Isulan, Sultan Kudarat for final processing, without passing through the office of the CENRODENR Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. The PENRO acted favorably on the said Free Patent Application, and a corresponding patent was issued.
The Sales Application of PEEI was forwarded to the Regional Executive Director of DENR Cotabato City from the DENRCENRO, Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat on July 11, 1994. While waiting for the result of the Miscellaneous Sales Application, PEEI received information that the said lots had been registered in the names of heirs of Akang Simpal, represented by Baikong Akang Camsa, with Original Certificate of Title No P-16860 issued under Free Patent No 126504-96-10706 dated September 23, 1996, and that said title was later cancelled with the issuance of separate certificates of title for the two lots. One lot (Lot 1) was registered under the names of Hadji Abdullah, Ali, Kadil, Wahni, Lukaya, Tho and Mangelen, all surnamed Akang, under TCT No T-35550 dated October 30, 1996, while the other parcel of land (Lot 3) was registered in the name of Baikong Akang Camsa under TCT No T-35549, also dated October 30, 199672.
Karim’s participation in the processing of the Free Patent Application of the heirs of Akang Simpal was subsequently questioned by OIC CENRO of Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat, Rhawel Pamplona. In a Memorandum dated February 4, 1997, Pamplona asked Karim to submit a written explanation why he should not be administratively charged for non observance of Office Standard Operating Procedures. In the said Memorandum, Pamplona said Karim’s acts “constitute to a connivance between the Deputy Public Lands Inspector (DPLI), Records Officer (Alicia Flores), and the Land Management Serices Chief (Karim) in order to circumvent office procedure and accommodate the anomalous and illegal scheme”. 73 Karim was later investigated by the Office of the Regional Executive Director of DENR Region XII acting on Pamplona’s complaint. (However, court records do not indicate what the outcome of the said investigation was).
Baguindali Karim (now deceased), an employee of the Land Management Bureau of the DENR Regional Office in Cotabato City, was as of March 11, 1996 assigned as Land Management Officer III of the CENRO-DENR, Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. He had initially processed the Free Patent Application of the heirs of Akang Simpal, filed sometime in 1996. He knew that there was a prior Sales Application filed by the PEEI, covering the same lots, but allegedly did not act upon the latter, citing Article XII Section 3 of the Philippine Constitution, which disallows private Land Tenure Stories in Central Mindanao
Land Tenure Book 1001.indd 118
The Free Patent Application of the heirs of Akang Simpal was not produced as evidence in court, thus the exact date of the ap118
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