S1L34 – The “Regalian Doctrine” and the Modern Colonizers of the iBenguets
Juan Dimacaawat, are you present?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Let’s talk a little history, Mr. Dimacaawat. Imagine that you were already a lawyer in March 16, 1521…”
“Sir, no imagination is necessary, that is REALLY his birthday!”
“Shut up, Miss Deema. I will call you later!”
“Sowreee…” Deema faked an apology.
“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, Mr. Dimacaawat, suppose you were already a lawyer in March 16, 1521, and you were part of that advance party that waded ashore in Limasawa Island in Cebu. El Señor Ferdinand Magellan had just planted his cross on the beach. He looks at you and asks you, ‘Juan, que hago ahora?’ what will you say?”
Juan stared back at me blankly. Deema had to rescue him, “Sir, Dimacaawat ti Spanish dayta!”
“Of course,” I laughed, “you people are so young, you did not even experience having Spanish in college. Any way, Juan, Mister Magellan just asked you after planting his cross ‘what do I do now?’ asking for your legal advise. What will you tell him?”
“Este…executar…una… la afidavit…”
“No, no, no—no need to say it in Spanish, Juan. Just tell us what would be your legal advice to your client who just discovered the Philippines and wants to claim it now for the Spanish Royal Crown…”
“Sir, I would tell him he has to formalize his discovery by executing an ‘Affidavit of Adverse Claim’ and then I would ask Lapu-lapu to sign as instrumental witness,” Juan said slowly, unsure of every syllable, while the class tried so hard to keep from laughing.
“Ah, but the native Limasawans are there and suppose they understood what an ‘adverse claim’ is and their response is to unsheath their bolos, what will you tell them?”
“Pisting yawa, dong dili man mag-atake kamo…”
“No, no, no—no need to say it in Bisaya, you’re probably saying it wrong anyway. Just tell us, how will you handle the opposition to your client’s claim from the actual occupants of the land?”
“Well, sir, I will go around and ask everybody to sign a ‘Waiver And Simultaneous Quit Claim’ stating that they were ceding their possessory right over the island in favor of Ferdinand Magellan.”
“Just give them some official-looking document that recognizes them and they’ll go home happy, I agree with you,” I said, making Juan panic.
“That’s not what I meant, sir…”
“Yeah, but that’s what you SAID,” I like trapping my students, the sting teaches them to be careful with EVERY WORD they say.
I continued the interrogation: “You do realize that Mr. Magellan was killed in that beach landing and it took the Spaniards eleven years to come back, don’t you? So how would you ensure that the waivers signed by the natives AND the dearly departed Ferdinand Magellan would still be good by then?”
“Sir, I will state in the waiver that it shall be binding upon the ‘parties, their heirs, assigns and successors-in-interest’ so that even if they are already dead by the time my Spanish clients returned, they don’t have to look for the same people who transacted originally.” Juan said, recalling phrases from their “Legal Forms” subject, growing more confident with each passing moment.
“What if the natives say, ‘why are you getting our land for free? you did not pay us anything and you did not leave anything for us!’ how will you answer that?” I said. The class is nearing the breaking point of laughing, but holding on.
“Sir, I will tell them ‘this is just a piece of paper, just sign it’ but in case anyone might question it later, I will actually make them sign a ‘Deed of Donation’ sir and it will state that they are giving their land gratuitously in consideration of their love and affection for the donee, Mr Magellan’.”
“I see. What about the bolos, what do you about that?”
“I will persuade the natives to put away their bolos, in exchange for an ‘Affidavit of Desistance’ executed by Magellan saying that Spain will no longer prosecute them for ‘grave threats’ sir.
“Good answer. And what about their grievance that you did not leave anything for them, that you took everything from them?” I pressed on.
“Ay, wen gayam sir, then I’ll put in the ‘Deed of Donation’ there ‘I have kept in reserve for myself sufficient property to answer for my needs and chief support.”
“Alright, you may sit down, Mr. Dimacaawat.”
Juan sat down, I heard him whispering to Deema, “I can’t believe I said that!”
“Mr. Jack Makataruz, tumakder…”
“Yes, sir!”
“Jack, continue from where Mr. Dimacaawat left off. What will you do with the ‘Affidavit of Adverse Claim’ prepared by Atty. Dimacaawat for his client Magellan?”
“Sir, I will xerox many copies and then post one copy on every coconut tree throughout the island.” Class began giggling.
“Its purpose being…?” I asked in a leading way
“Its purpose, sir, is to serve as constructive ‘Notice to the Whole World’ sir.”
“How do you think the natives would react to that?”
“They are all illiterate, sir, so they will ignore the legal notices posted. So after three consecutive weeks, the notice will be binding on them whether they understood it or not!”
The whole class couldn’t help it anymore, they burst out laughing. So I did my ‘thing’ again, banging on the blackboard to bring back order.
“Alright, listen people. I’m glad you can amuse yourself with the absurdity of the example. But I want you all to note that from the standpoint of procedure, everything your classmates recited is absolutely correct. Even the language used in the waivers, affidavits and contract of donation—they’re all proper legal syntax.”
“Sir, but as far as contract elements are concerned, I saw many defects…” Miss Hannah Maala said.
“EVERYTHING is defective, hija!” I said, “I did not say they were valid as to content, I just said they are valid as to form.”
“Actually, they are valid both as to form and substance by now, sir” Deema interrupted.
“Of course,” I said, just out of reflex because I had no idea where Deema was going, “but please go ahead, Miss Deema, share your knowledge with your classmates..”
“Sir, hypothetically, since the waiver, affidavits and the deed of donation were all executed in 1521, under the so-called ‘Ancient Document Doctrine’ they can no longer be assailed, in deference to the fact that they had remained unchallenged, they have ripened into ‘legal authority’ that can even be quoted in pleadings.”
“Exactly what I was about to say. Did you get that class?” I said with a deep ‘professor’ tone of voice.
“But was there a special reason why you had to bring us back to 1521, sir?” Juan Dimacaawat asked.
“Yes, there is, Juan. I knew that you would all recognize your Legal Forms, regardless of the timeframe. I was not trying to teach you a new way to draft documents. What I wanted you to see is that despite the passing of 500 years, land is still taken from illiterate people basically the same way.”
The class fell silent.
With the exception of Kata and Cabo, who are both from the lowlands, the rest of my class are Cordillerans. A proud culture, Cordillerans take signal pride in the fact that they have never been colonized like the rest of the Philippines.
“Of course, literacy these days is relative,” I said, “even people who cannot read or write today can still have access to media—radio, television or even just your streetcorner sari-sari store gossip mill. Everybody can count, buy things, give change. Nobody can really claim to be illiterate today.”
“And yet people can still be manipulated by a simple affidavit, right sir?” Deema interjected.
“Exactly,” I said. Whenever this girl says anything, it’s usually what I would have said NEXT anyway. She just beats to it. At first, it annoyed me until I realized–why don’t I make lemonade out of this lemon? It would probably save me a lot of lecturing energy.
“Miss Deema, tell us everything we need to know about affidavits.”
“Yes, sir… an affidavit is not an official government form. No matter what it contains, it has no inherent authority. Principally, the only person it binds is the affiant himself. It is always 100% true and accurate, that’s why it should never be evaluated for probative value BY ITSELF but always in relation to extrinsic authority.” Deema recited as if she was reading straight out of a book.
“Maybe if you illustrated it with an example, your classmates’ brains would not bleed so much,” I said.
“Well, for example, sir–if I said ‘I, Deema Niwala, under legal oath, hereby declare that the sun will not rise tomorrow’ that would be 100% true and accurate sir.“
“THAT THE SUN WILL NOT RISE TOMORROW??” I yelled for emphasis.
“No, sir—only that I SAID SO in my affidavit. It’s 100% true and accurate that I SAID SO. You can tell a lie in life as easily as you can tell a lie in an affidavit, sir.”
“Did you get that class?” Everybody nodded.
“So let’s go back to Magellan. Eleven years later the Spaniards came back and they had with them an “Affidavit” from the King of Spain King Philip III and what did it say, Miss Deema?
“Sir, that all land throughout the archipelago belongs to the Royal Crown and all natives must apply for a title from the Crown.”
“Is that 100% true and accurate, Miss Deema?”
“THAT HE SAID SO, SIR! ONLY THAT HE KING SAID SO!” It was Deema’s turn to yell, albeit softer.
“But you cannot assail that king’s affidavit anymore because of…?”
“The ‘Ancient Document Doctrine’ sir,” Deema said, her voice growing softer and softer.
“This thing you said, where all land in the Philippines belong to the Crown, and all Filipinos must obtain title from the Crown—meaning the Government—did that thing also ‘ripen’ into a doctrine, Miss Deema?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What doctrine is that?”
“The Regalian Doctrine, sir.” Deema answered softly, again fighting back tears.
“So now your mother, even though she’s a lawyer herself, has to obtain title over your land where your house stands, even if Magellan never set foot in the Cordilleras, am I correct?”
“Yesss, sir.” The girl said. I saw a tear roll down her cheek already.
“What is that principal colonial heritage that Spain brought to this country, Miss Hannah?” this time I asked the girl from Buguias, who was ALSO starting to tear up.
“Roman Catholicism, sir?”
“And what is the core doctrine of that religion, according to the teachings of the Spanish friars?”
“Sir, that God is THREE persons in one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit—the Holy Trinity, sir?”
“That’s correct. What is the name of the capital of your province Benguet again, Hannah?”
“LA TRINIDAD, sir?”
“And that is Spanish for …?”
“The Trinity.” Hannah finally said without a question mark.
All my Cordilleran students looked at one another.
“Maybe Magellan never made it to the interior hinterlands,” I said, “but never live another day of that historical lie that the Cordillera was never colonized, class. You just did not become aware of it because Spain did not even bother to make you select your leader for 300 years. They always just sent somebody with an Affidavit that says ‘I was appointed by the King to be your leader.” And you never questioned it.
My students were too sullen to even react. So I drove home the point: “If we don’t heed the lessons from history—” I wasn’t able to finish, Deema interrupted me.
“…we won’t even recognize the face of a colonizer if he went around house to house,” then finally Deema broke down and cried. Followed by Hannah. Then Juan. Then Jack.
I did not dismiss the class.
I just quietly walked out of the room, leaving Deema and her other Cordilleran classmates to let the pain wash over slowly….
About the Author
The author is a writer and lawyer based in Baguio City, Philippines. Former editor of the Gold Ore and Baguio City Digest, professor of journalism, political science and law at Baguio Colleges Foundation (BCF). He is a photographer and video documentarist. He has a YouTube channel called “Parables and Reason”
About Images: Some of the images used in the articles are from the posts in Atty. Joel Rodriguez Dizon’s Facebook account, and/or Facebook groups and pages he manages or/and part of.