G.R. No.

135385 December 6, 2000

ISAGANI CRUZ and CESAR EUROPA, petitioners,

vs.
SECRETARY OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES, SECRETARY OF
BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT and CHAIRMAN and COMMISSIONERS OF THE
NATIONAL COMMISSION ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, respondents.

FACTS:
Petitioners Isagani Cruz and Cesar Europa brought this suit for prohibition and
mandamus as citizens and taxpayers, assailing the constitutionality of certain provisions
of Republic Act No. 8371 (R.A. 8371), otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples
Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA), and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (Implementing
Rules).

ISSUE:
Whether or not RA 8371 is constitutional.

RULING:
YES.

When Congress enacted the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), it introduced
radical concepts into the Philippine legal system which appear to collide with settled
constitutional and jural precepts on state ownership of land and other natural resources.
The sense and subtleties of this law cannot be appreciated without considering its
distinct sociology and the labyrinths of its history. This Opinion attempts to interpret
IPRA by discovering its soul shrouded by the mist of our history. After all, the IPRA was
enacted by Congress not only to fulfill the constitutional mandate of protecting the
indigenous cultural communities' right to their ancestral land but more importantly, to
correct a grave historical injustice to our indigenous people.

I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE IN THE PHILIPPINE LEGAL

SYSTEM.

The Regalian doctrine was enshrined in the 1935 Constitution. One of the fixed and
dominating objectives of the 1935 Constitutional Convention was the nationalization and
conservation of the natural resources of the country. There was an overwhelming
sentiment in the Convention in favor of the principle of state ownership of natural
resources and the adoption of the Regalian doctrine. State ownership of natural
resources was seen as a necessary starting point to secure recognition of the state's
power to control their disposition, exploitation, development, or utilization. The
delegates to the Constitutional Convention very well knew that the concept of State
ownership of land and natural resources was introduced by the Spaniards, however,
they were not certain whether it was continued and applied by the Americans. To
remove all doubts, the Convention approved the provision in the Constitution affirming
the Regalian doctrine.
 II. THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES RIGHTS ACT.

The IPRA recognizes the existence of the indigenous cultural communities or

indigenous peoples (ICCs/IPs) as a distinct sector in Philippine society. It grants these
people the ownership and possession of their ancestral domains and ancestral lands,
and defines the extent of these lands and domains. The ownership given is the
indigenous concept of ownership under customary law which traces its origin to native
title.

Indigenous Cultural Communities or Indigenous Peoples refer to a group of people or

homogeneous societies who have continuously lived as an organized community on
communally bounded and defined territory. These groups of people have actually
occupied, possessed and utilized their territories under claim of ownership since time
immemorial. They share common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other
distinctive cultural traits, or, they, by their resistance to political, social and cultural
inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became historically
differentiated from the Filipino majority. ICCs/IPs also include descendants of ICCs/IPs
who inhabited the country at the time of conquest or colonization, who retain some or all
of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions but who may have been
displaced from their traditional territories or who may have resettled outside their
ancestral domains.

Land titles do not exist in the indigenous peoples' economic and social system. The
concept of individual land ownership under the civil law is alien to them. Inherently
colonial in origin, our national land laws and governmental policies frown upon
indigenous claims to ancestral lands. Communal ownership is looked upon as inferior, if
not inexistent.

III. THE IPRA IS A NOVEL PIECE OF LEGISLATION.

It was to address the centuries-old neglect of the Philippine indigenous peoples that the
Tenth Congress of the Philippines, by their joint efforts, passed and approved R.A. No.
8371, the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997.

IV. THE PROVISIONS OF THE IPRA DO NOT CONTRAVENE THE CONSTITUTION.

A. Ancestral Domains and Ancestral Lands are the Private Property of Indigenous
Peoples and Do Not Constitute Part of the Land of the Public Domain.

Ancestral domains are all areas belonging to ICCs/IPs held under a claim of ownership,
occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs by themselves or through their ancestors,
communally or individually since time immemorial, continuously until the present, except
when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as a
consequence of government projects or any other voluntary dealings with government
and/or private individuals or corporations. Ancestral domains comprise lands, inland
waters, coastal areas, and natural resources therein and includes ancestral lands,
forests, pasture, residential, agricultural, and other lands individually owned whether
alienable or not, hunting grounds, burial grounds, worship areas, bodies of water,
mineral and other natural resources. They also include lands which may no longer be
exclusively occupied by ICCs/IPs but from which they traditionally had access to for
their subsistence and traditional activities, particularly the home ranges of ICCs/IPs who
are still nomadic and/or shifting cultivators.

Ancestral lands are lands held by the ICCs/IPs under the same conditions as ancestral
domains except that these are limited to lands and that these lands are not merely
occupied and possessed but are also utilized by the ICCs/IPs under claims of individual
or traditional group ownership. These lands include but are not limited to residential lots,
rice terraces or paddies, private forests, swidden farms and tree lots.

B. The right of ownership and possession by the ICCs/IPs of their ancestral

domains is a limited form of ownership and does not include the right to alienate
the same.

Registration under the Public Land Act and Land Registration Act recognizes the
concept of ownership under the civil law. A member of the national cultural minorities
who has continuously occupied and cultivated, either by himself or through his
predecessors-in-interest, a tract or tracts of land, whether disposable or not since July
4, 1955, shall be entitled to the right granted in the preceding paragraph of this section:
Provided, That at the time he files his free patent application he is not the owner of any
real property secured or disposable under the provision of the Public Land Law.

C. Sections 7 (a), 7 (b) and 57 of the IPRA Do Not Violate the Regalian Doctrine
Enshrined in Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution.

1. The Rights of ICCs/IPs Over Their Ancestral Domains and Lands.

Section 7 (a) defines the ICCs/IPs the right of ownership over their ancestral domains
which covers (a) lands, (b) bodies of water traditionally and actually occupied by the
ICCs/IPs, (c) sacred places, (d) traditional hunting and fishing grounds, and (e) all
improvements made by them at any time within the domains. The right of ownership
includes the following rights: (1) the right to develop lands and natural resources; (b) the
right to stay in the territories; (c) the right to resettlement in case of displacement; (d)
the right to regulate the entry of migrants; (e) the right to safe and clean air and water;
(f) the right to claim parts of the ancestral domains as reservations; and (g) the right to
resolve conflict in accordance with customary laws.

Section 8 governs their rights to ancestral lands. Unlike ownership over the ancestral
domains, Section 8 gives the ICCs/IPs also the right to transfer the land or property
rights to members of the same ICCs/IPs or non-members thereof. This is in keeping
with the option given to ICCs/IPs to secure a torrens title over the ancestral lands, but
not to domains.
2. The Right of ICCs/IPs to Develop Lands and Natural Resources Within the Ancestral
Domains Does Not Deprive the State of Ownership Over the Natural Resources and
Control and Supervision in their Development and Exploitation.

V. THE IPRA IS A RECOGNITION OF OUR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN THE

INDIGENOUS INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution formally recognizes the existence of ICCs/IPs and
declares as a State policy the promotion of their rights within the framework of national
unity and development. The IPRA amalgamates the Philippine category of ICCs with the
international category of IPs, and is heavily influenced by both the International Labor
Organization (ILO) Convention 169 and the United Nations (UN) Draft Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The struggle of the Filipinos throughout colonial history had been plagued by ethnic and
religious differences. Largely unpopulist, the present legal system has resulted in the
alienation of a large sector of society, specifically, the indigenous peoples. The histories
and cultures of the indigenes are relevant to the evolution of Philippine culture and are
vital to the understanding of contemporary problems. It is through the IPRA that an
attempt was made by our legislators to understand Filipino society not in terms of myths
and biases but through common experiences in the course of history.
G.R. No. 181284 October 20, 2015

LOLOY UNDURAN, BARANGAY CAPTAIN ROMEO PACANA, NESTOR

MACAPAYAG, RUPERTO DOGIA, JIMMY TALINO, ERMELITO ANGEL, PETOY
BESTO, VICTORINO ANGEL, RUEL BOLING, JERMY ANGEL, BERTING SULOD,
RIO BESTO, BENDIJO SIMBALAN, and MARK BRAZIL, Petitioners
vs.
RAMON ABERASTURI, CRISTINA C. LOPEZ, CESAR LOPEZ JR., DIONISIO A.
LOPEZ, MERCEDES L. GASTON, AGNES H. LOPEZ, EUSEBIO S. LOPEZ, JOSE
MARIA S. LOPEZ, ANTON B. ABERASTURI, MA. RAISSA A. VELEZ, ZOILO
ANTONIO A. VELEZ, CRISTINA ABERASTURI, EDUARDO LOPEZ JR., ROSARIO
S. LOPEZ, JUAN S. LOPEZ, CESAR ANTHONY R. LOPEZ, VENANCIO L. GASTON,
ROSEMARIE S. LOPEZ, JAY A. ASUNCION, NICOLO ABERASTURI, LISA A.
ASUNCION, INEZ A. VERAY, HERNAN A. ASUNCION, ASUNCION LOPEZ,
THOMAS A. VELEZ, LUIS ENRIQUE VELEZ, ANTONIO H. LOPEZ, CHARLES H.
LOPEZ, ANA L. ZAYCO, PILAR L. QUIROS, CRISTINA L. PICAZO, RENATO
SANTOS, GERALDINE AGUIRRE, MARIA CARMENCITA T. LOPEZ, and as
represented by attorney-in-fact RAMON ABERASTURI, Respondents

FACTS:
Petitioners, except for Mark Brazil and Nestor Macapayag, are members of the
Miarayon, Lapok, Lirongan, Talaandig Tribal Association (MILALITTRA), or Talaandig
tribe, who claimed to have been living since birth on the land located at Barangay
Miarayon, Talakag, Bukidnon, Mindanao, which they inherited from their forefathers.

On the other hand, respondents, represented by attorney-in-fact Ramon Aberasturi,

claimed to be the lawful owners and possessor of an unregistered parcel of agricultural
land (Lot No. 7367 Cad 630-D), with an area of 105.7361 hectares, which appears to be
located within the ancestral domain of the Talaandig tribe.

Petitioners contend that the RTC has no jurisdiction over Civil Case No. 04-03-0 for
Injunction, Damages and other Relief, because the 105.7361-hectare land claimed by
respondents is undisputedly within the ancestral domain of the Talaandig tribe over
which a CADT has already been issued. Petitioners insist that, even granting that the
case is purely a personal action, the NCIP has exclusive and original jurisdiction over it
as it concerns a claim and dispute involving rights of ICCs/IPs over their ancestral
domain.

ISSUE:
Whether or not the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the jurisdiction of the Court a quo
over a complaint for injunction involving an ancestral domain of the Talaandigs.

RULING:
NO.
On the procedural issue raised by respondents, the Court disagrees with their
contention that petitioners do not have legal capacity or standing and locus standi to file
the petition, for failure to show that they are members of IPs/ICCs, or that they are
authorized to represent the Talaandig tribe.

Locus standi is defined as a right of appearance in a court of justice on a given

question. In private suits, standing is governed by the "real parties in interest" rule found
in Section 2, Rule 3 of the Rules of Court. Such concept of real party-in-interest is
adapted in Section 2, Rule VI of the 2014 Revised Rules of Procedure before the NCIP.
That petitioners are the real parties in interest can be gleaned from the Entry of
Appearance with Motion to Refer the Case to the Regional Hearing Office of the NCIP
filed by the NCIP Special Transition Team-Quick Response Unit (STRAT-QRU). The
STRAT-QRU counsels alleged therein that the respondents' complaint for recovery of
ownership (accion reinvidicatoria) sought to recover an unregistered real property
situated in Miarayon, Bukidnon, from petitioners, all of whom are, with the exception of
Nestor Macapayag and Mark Brazil, member-beneficiaries of CADT No. R10-TAL-0703-
0010 issued by the NCIP in the name of the Talaandig Indigenous Peoples, located at
Talakag, Province of Bukidnon. In support of their allegation, petitioners presented a
certification that the disputed land is within the area covered by the same CADT, and
the NCIP List of Beneficiaries of Talaandig Ancestral Domain of Miarayon, Lirongan,
Lapok, San Miguel, Talakag, Bukidnon. In contrast, respondents failed to submit any
evidence to dispute petitioners' claim that they are members of the Talaandig Tribe.
Hence, respondents' contention that petitioners have no legal standing to file the
petition, is without merit.