ANCESTRAL DOMAIN. Barangay Kapatagan village chief Juanito Morales in Digos City, Davao del Sur, is arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation in Davao Region on Oct. 15, 2022 after allegedly being caught in the act of signing documents selling a portion of land within the ancestral domain that is prohibited by law. Morales is an ex-officio member of the Digos City Council, representing the Liga ng Barangay of Digos City. (Photo courtesy of One Mindanao)
DIGOS CITY, Davao del Sur – An ex-officio member of the City Council here and 10 others were recently arrested in an entrapment over an "illegal" ancestral land deal, the National Bureau of Investigation in Davao Region (NBI-11) said Tuesday.
In a statement, the NBI-11 said Kapatagan village chief Juanito Morales was arrested on Oct. 15 while inside the barangay hall signing documents about selling a portion of land identified as within the ancestral domain, which is prohibited by law.
Morales was also found to possess an undisclosed explosive, and a handgun at the time of his arrest.
The 10 other unnamed suspects were allegedly lured to sell their lots to the prospective buyer that turned out to be a member of the NBI’s entrapment team.
Morales is an ex-officio member of the 8th City Council representing the Liga ng Barangay here.
He was also a past ex-officio member of the provincial board for the Federation of the Association of Barangay Council (FABC) in Davao del Sur.
On Monday, Morales was formally charged with estafa through falsification of public documents, illegal possession of firearms, illegal possession of explosives, and violation of the Indigenous People's Right Act (RA 8371 of 1997) before the City Prosecutor's Office here.
Lawyer Marc Dominic Fernandez, a member of the City Council and one of Morales’ legal counsels, said the suspect had to be brought to the hospital after fainting during the City Council's session Monday upon learning of the filing of charges.
Fernandez said their camp is set to ask the court to quash the charges, noting that the charge for illegal possession of explosives is a non-bailable offense.
Meanwhile, Barangay Tres de Mayor chair Oscar Bucol, the concurrent FABC representative to the provincial board, called on netizens not to make a hasty judgment on the village official.
“Nobody is perfect in this world, and if he committed such a crime, let the court decide on his fate and avoid condemning Morales in social media portals while waiting for due process,” Bucol said. (PNA)
