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Separate Opinion of Justice Puno in Cruz V Secretary of DENR
Separate Opinion of Justice Puno in Cruz V Secretary of DENR
Issue:
Did the IPRA violate the Regalian Theory?
A. IPRA: Under the IPRA law, lands which have not been registered before, if granted with a CADT/CALT, will be
recognized as privately owned by the IPs from the beginning‐ thus, has never been part of public domain.
B. Regalian Theory: Lands which has not been recognized as privately owned belongs to the State
Held:
No Final Decision. Petition dismissed due to lack of votes; Law remained valid and constitutional (7 to grant ‐7 to dismiss).
Justice Puno’s Separate Opinion: The IPRA Law DID NOT VIOLATE the Regalian Theory
1. These lands claimed by the IPs have long been theirs BY VIRTUE OF NATIVE TITLE; they have lived there even before the
Spanish colonization. “Native title refers to ICCs/IPs’ pre‐conquest rights to lands and domains held under a claim of private
ownership as far back as memory reaches. These lands are deemed never to have been public lands and are indisputable
presumed to have been held that way since before the Spanish Conquest.”
2. AND Native Title is an Exception to the Regalian Doctrine: ... Oh Cho vs Director of Lands: “This exception would be any
land that should have been in the possession of an occupant and of his predecessors‐in‐interest since time immemorial”
4. It complies with Regalian Doctrine: Natural Sources within ancestral domains are not owned by the IPs
* The IPs claims are limited to “lands, bodies of water traditionally and actually occupied by ICCs/IPs, sacred places,
traditional hunting and fishing grounds, and all improvements made by them at any time within the domains;”
* IPRA did not mention that the IPs also own all the other natural resources found within the ancestral domains
Discussion related to the topic of the Torrens System and Mode of Acquiring Ownership (land):
I. HISTORY ON THE MODE OF ACQUIRING LAND OWNERSHIP IN THE PHILIPPINES:
A. Laws of the Indies
“The Regalian Theory is a Western legal concept first introduced by the Spaniards into the country through the Laws of the
Indies and the Royal Cedulas.”
By virtue of Spain’s "discovery" and conquest of the Philippines, its lands became the exclusive patrimony and
dominion of the Spanish Crown
Back then, the Spanish Government distributed the lands by issuing royal grants and concessions to Spaniards, both
military and civilian