The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act

RA No. 8371

“An Act to Recognize, Protect and Promote the Rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/
Indigenous Peoples, Creating a National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Establishing Implementing
Mechanisms, Appropriating Funds Therefor, and for Other Purposes”

dealing with a specific group of people

the Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs) – 1987 Constitution

Indigenous Peoples (IPs) is the contemporary international language in the International Labor
Organization (ILO) Convention 169

The law allows indigenous peoples to obtain recognition of their right of ownership over
ancestral lands and ancestral domains by virtue of native title.

Constitutional provision

SEC. 5. The State, subject to the provisions of this Constitution and national development
policies and programs, shall protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral
lands to ensure their economic, social, and cultural well-being. The Congress may provide for the
applicability of customary law governing property rights or relations in determining the ownership and
extent of ancestral domain.

Constitutionality of the IPRA

Cruz v. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources

Petitioner says that the law violates (unlawfully deprives) the government’s claim on the
land and the regalian doctrine embodied in Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution. The
might law violates the rights of private landowners since the private lands could also be included
in the definition of ancestral domains/lands. The petitioner also contends the powers and jurisdiction
of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples provided by the law on the ground that it violates the due
process.
….

Definition of terms.
Ancestral Domain- refers to all areas generally belonging to ICCs/IPs comprising lands, inland waters,
coastal areas, and natural resources therein

Ancestral Land – refers to land occupied, possessed and utilized by individuals, families, and clans who
are members of the ICCs/IPs since time immemorial, by themselves or through their predecessors-in-
interest, under claims of individual or traditional ownership

Native Title- refers to pre-conquest rights to lands and domains, which, as far back as memory reaches,
have been held under claim of private ownership by ICCs/IPs.

Time Immemorial – period of time when as far back as memory can go, certain IPs are known to have
occupied, possessed in the concept of owner
IPRA connotes group or communal ownership.

Ancestral domains are private, but community property Private- since it is not part of the public domain
Community – ancestral domain is owned in common and not by 1 particular person

Ownership over the natural resources STILL belong to the State - ICCs/IPs are merely granted the right to
manage and conserve them for future generation. The rights of IPs take the form of management and
stewardship (Justice Kapunan; Cruz vs DENR)

Modes of Acquisition of Ancestral domains and ancestral lands by the IP

(a) by native title over both ancestral lands and domains; or
(b) by Torrens title under the Public Land Act and the Land Registration Act (now Property Registration Decree)
with respect to ancestral lands only

a) Applicant must be a member of indigenous cultural group;

b) He must have been in possession of an individually-owned ancestral land for not less than 30 years

c) By operation of law (IPRA), the land is already classified as A&D land, even if it has a slop of 18%
hence there is no need to submit a separate certification that the land is A&D