Spouses Leonor and Rosa Badua vs.

Cordillera Bodong
Administration
(G.R. No. 92649 February 14, 1991)

 
Facts: The case concerns a land dispute between the spouses
Leonor and Rosa Badua and a certain David Quema. Both parties
claimed ownership of two parcels of land in Villaviciosa, Abra
which led to Quema's filing of a case before the Barangay Council.
When the Barangay Council failed to settle the dispute, Quema
filed it in the tribal court of the Maeng Tribe, (a cultural minority
group of Tingguians inhabiting the interior mountain of
Villaviciosa, Abra).
The Maeng Tribal Court decided to award the parcels of
land to Quema and ordered the spouses to pay for the expenses of
the case and a fine of P5, 000.00. When the spouses did not
immediately vacate the lot, they received a "warning order" from
the Zone Commander of the Cordillera People's Liberation Army,
the military arm of the Cordillera Bodong Administration.
On April 2, 1990, the spouses filed a petition on certiorari
and prohibition before the Supreme Court, claiming that the Maeng
Tribal Court has neither judicial power nor jurisdiction over the
parties.

Issue: Whether or not a tribal court of the Cordillera Bodong

Administration can render a valid and executory decision in a land
dispute.

Ruling: The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the petioners.

Citing their ruling in the case of Cordillera Regional
Assembly Member Alexander Ordillo vs. COMELEC, the
Supreme Court held that since the plebiscite that was held on
January 23, 1990 pursuant to Republic Act 6766 was rejected, the
creation of the Cordillera Autonomous Region did not come to be.
As a logical consequence of that judicial declaration, the Cordillera
Bodong Administration, the indigenous and special courts for the
indigenous cultural communities of the Cordillera region, and the
Cordillera People's Liberation Army as a regional police force or a
regional command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, do not
legally exist.
 Since the Cordillera Autonomous Region did not come into
legal existence, the Maeng Tribal Court was not constituted into an
indigenous or special court under R.A. No. 6766. Hence, the
Maeng Tribal Court is an ordinary tribal court existing under the
customs and traditions of an indigenous cultural community and
such tribal courts are not a part of the Philippine judicial system
which consists of the Supreme Court and the lower courts which
have been established by law. Thus, they do not possess judicial
power.