Republic of the Philippines

NUEVA VIZCAYA STATE UNIVERSITY

Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya
INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE
IM-GE-INDI-2nd SEM-2020-2021

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Bayombong Campus

DEGREE General COURSE NO. GE INDI

PROGRAM Education
SPECIALIZATION Phil. IPs COURSE PHILIPPINE INDIGENOUS
TITLE COMMUNITIES
YEAR LEVEL All level TIME 3hrs WK NO. IM NO.
FRAME 5-18 4

I. TOPIC TITLE: LAWS PROTECTING INDIGENOUS CULTURAL

COMMUNITIES

II. OVERVIEW
This topic discusses the different laws catering to the interests and protection of
indigenous peoples in the Philippines

III. DESIRED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the chapter, the students should be able to:

1) Have a familiarity with the different laws protecting indigenous peoples of the Philippines
2) Be able to relate these laws in the study of indigenous peoples
 IV. LESSON CONTENT

1) 1987 Philippine Constitution provisions on indigenous peoples

The Philippine Constitution of 1987 explicitly recognizes the rights of indigenous cultural
Communities in the following provisions:

Section 5, Article 12: “The State, subject to provisions of this Constitution and national
development policies and programs, shall protect the rights of the 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 laws governing
property rights or relations in determining the ownership and extent of ancestral domain.”

Article 2, Section 22
“The State recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural communities within
the framework of national unity and development. “

Article 14, Section 17

“The State shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights of indigenous cultural
communities to preserve and develop their cultures, traditions, and institutions. It shall
consider these rights in the formulation of national plans and policies”

2) Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (Republic Act 8371)

In 1997, the Philippine Government enacted Republic Act No. 8371, known as the
Indigenous Peoples‟ Rights Act (IPRA), to give effect to the constitutional recognition of
indigenous peoples‟ rights. The IPRA recognizes indigenous peoples‟ inherent rights,
including their right to self-determination, to ancestral domains and the applicability of
customary laws governing property rights, to self-determined development and to the
requirement that free prior informed consent be obtained in relation to any developments
that have impact on them. It also recognized ancestral domain rights, acknowledging
indigenous peoples‟ time immemorial collective possession of their ancestral domains
and establishing mechanisms for these to be delineated and formalized.
 FOUR BUNDLES OF RIGHTS UNDER REPUBLIC ACT 8371

1) Rights to ancestral domain (Sections 4 to 12)

2) Right to Self-Governance and Empowerment (Sections 13 to 20)
3) Social Justice and Human Rights (Sections 21 to 28)
4) Cultural Integrity (Sections 29 to 37)

IPRA provides for the creation of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
(NCIP) as its implementing agency. It is an agency under the Office the President (now
an attached agency of DSWD) that is composed of seven commissioners appointed by the
President representing the seven ethnographic regions in the country as defined by the
IPRA. (Sections 38 to 50; Sections 66 to 71) The NCIP is the primary government
agency that formulates and implements policies, plans and programmes for the
recognition, promotion and protection of the rights and well-being of indigenous peoples
and for the recognition of their ancestral domains and their rights thereto.

PROGRAMS OF THE NCIP

1) ANCESTRAL DOMAIN/LAND RECOGNITION

Through the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), Certificate of Ancestral Domain
Titles(CADTs) are issued to formally recognize the rights of possession and ownership of
Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) over their ancestral
domains as identified and delineated in accordance with this law, while Certificate of
Ancestral Land Titles (CALTs) formally recognize the rights of ICCs/IPs over their
ancestral lands.

2) ASSISTANCE TO ANCESTRAL DOMAIN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

AND PROTECTION PLAN (ADSDPP) FORMULATION

Provision of technical and/or financial assistance to the Indigenous Cultural

Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) in the formulation of their Ancestral
Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP). This holistic,
comprehensive and integrated plans shall promote a culture and rights-based approach to
development. It reflects the present and future desired conditions of the ICCs/IPs and
contains the types of programs/projects that they will adopt for the sustainable
management and development of their domain and community. The management plan
shall include, but not be limited to, the following basic information. The manner by which
the concerned ICCs/IPs shall protect their ancestral domain; The development programs
related to livelihood, education, infrastructure, self-governance, environment, natural
resources, culture and other practical development aspects, that are decided and adopted
by the ICCs/IPs; Community policies covering the implementation of all forms of
development activities in the are; and Management System, including the sharing of
benefits and responsibilities among members of the concerned ICCs/IPs. Program aims to
promote all the rights of ICCs/IPs within the framework of national unity and
development and all shall protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their ancestral
domains to ensure their economic, social and cultural well-being; and To recognize the
inherent rights of ICCs/IPs to self-governance and self-determination, and respect the
integrity of their values, practices and institutions as well as guarantee their right to freely
pursue their development and equally enjoy the full measure of human rights and freedom
without distinction or discrimination.

3) CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE RESPONSIVE AND GENDER SENSITIVE

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PROTECTION SERVICES

The program provides for policy support and extension of assistance to ICCs/IPs through
funding under the MOOE of the Commission apart from coordination with pertinent
government agencies especially charged with implementation of various socio-economic
services, policies and programs affecting the ICCs/IPs to ensure that the ICCs/IPs are
directly benefited.

4)IP EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY SERVICES

The Educational Assistance Program. It is the program that aims to provide limited
financial assistance to qualified ICCs/IPs students/pupils based on the criteria set forth in
NCIP Administrative Order No. 5, series of 2012, otherwise known as NCIP Guidelines
of 2012 on the Merit-Based Scholarship (NCIP-MBS) and Educational Assistance and its
amendments by virtue of Commission En Banc Resolution No. 06-099-2014, series of
2014.The Merit-Based Scholarship Program. It is a program that aimed of providing
meaningful scholarship to qualified/deserving IP students based on screening criteria and
benefits or privileges set forth in the Guidelines.
The Support and Advocacy Program. This collective term refers to education-related
projects and activities that complement the EAP and MBSP and Advocate holistic
development to include initiatives other than educational assistance and scholarship, such
as but not limited to Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) and other Review
programs; Bridging Programs, School and Community-related Health Programs;
Appropriate Social Infrastructures; and Trainings and Research Programs for Culturally
Appropriate IP Education.
5) IP CULTURE SERVICES
Considered as a mechanism of assisting the cultural communities preserve their cultural
and historical heritage and at the same time evoking public awareness and respect for the
IPs and their rights, is the extension of support to them in the practice of their rituals and
ceremonies whenever these are necessary held. The performance of cultural
manifestations as in rites, songs dances chants, and games, and the presentation of their
native life ways, literature and arts, fabric and architectural designs, artifacts and
instruments, in their original versions or in a manner in which they have been held
through the years, without romanticism or simply aesthetic motivation, is essential to the
IPs authentic flow of life and inherent world views at work. Stereotyping, false
representation and commercialization of indigenous cultures are current fads that must be
reckoned with and corrected. In here, time is of the essence

6) IP HEALTH SERVICES
Republic Act No. 8371 known as The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 declares
that the State shall recognize and promote all the rights of Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) to government’s basic services health
included. The Universal Health Care (UHC)/Kalusugan Pangkalahatan (KP) (AO 2010-
0036) addresses inequities in health outcomes ensuring that all Filipinos have equitable
access to health care. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007
(UNDRIP) states that Indigenous Peoples have the right to improvement of their
economic and social conditions without discrimination; develop priorities and strategies
for exercising their right to development; right to traditional medicines maintain their
health practices; conserve their vital medicinal resources and access health and social
services without discrimination; enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical
and mental health; maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage,
traditional knowledge and cultural expressions and intellectual property over them.

7) GENDER AND RIGHTS-BASED SERVICES

This sub-program covers strategic efforts to protect the rights of the Indigenous Peoples
to self-governance and self-determination ensuring that, but not limited to the following

The socio-political structures, systems and institutions of ICCs/IPs are strengthened;

The Indigenous structures, systems and institutions are not supplanted by other forms of
non-indigenous governance; and/or
The established mechanisms that allow the interfacing of Indigenous systems of
governance with the national systems are established; and
The ICC/IP representation in policy and decision-making bodies are institutionalized.
8) IP RIGHTS ADVOCACY AND MONITORING OF TREATY OBLIGATIONS
In context, Indigenous Peoples human rights and violations of these rights in hinged on
the ICCs/IPs existence or societies of their own even before foreign colonization of the
Philippines. Having their own people, government and territories have been the
foundation of their cultural identity, rights to self-determination and ancestral domains.
To ICCs/IPs therefore, human rights is the respect of their collectiveness as groups of
peoples and at the same time, recognizing their rights as citizens of a bigger society of the
Philippine Republic. Their rights are human rights too.
The IP Human Rights Program, with full participation and consultation with ICCs/IPs,
aims to contribute to the organizational outcome of the Commission. It seeks to promote
the IPRA as an ICCs/IPs national framework of their human rights, to advocate ancestral
domains as territories of peace and IPs self-determined development, human security and
well- being.The program strategy shall focus on the IPRA, international rights and other
instruments from legal frameworks into a well-defined call for action involving various
sectors such as international and national government, non-government organizations
(NGOs), civil society groups (CSOs), ICCs/IPs leadership structures and IP organizations
and the private sector towards the full enjoyment of ICCs/IPs human rights. A close
networks built from ancestral domains, municipality, provincial, regional and national
levels should be strengthened. Moreover, coordination and monitoring systems and
mechanisms or the promotion and protection of IP rights at all levels shall also be
enhanced through the program.
The overall objectives of the program are the following:
General: To ensure that the basic human rights of indigenous peoples/indigenous cultural
communities (IPs/ICCs) basic social, political, cultural and economic rights are respected,
recognized, protected and promoted, to promote ancestral domains as territories of peace
and advocate the principle that Indigenous Peoples (IPs) rights are human rights and the
respect of which will realize both the self-determined development and security of IPs as
human being and ancestral domains/communities as a whole.

9) LEGAL SERVICES
There are three components of the Legal Services. These are:

Indigenous Peoples Legal Assistance (IPLA)

The IPRA mandates the NCIP to protect and promote the interest and well-being of the
ICCs/IPs with due regard to their beliefs, customs, traditions and institutions. The same
law likewise considers the NCIP as the primary government agency through which
ICCs/IPs can seek government assistance and as the medium through which such
assistance may be extended.With the aforementioned mandates, the NCIP, through its
Central, Regional, and Provincial lawyers and legal officers, provides legal assistance and
services to the ICCs/IPs by representing them before the regular courts and quasi-judicial
bodies, conducting investigations on the basis of complaints filed by the ICCs/IPs,
preparing pleadings and other legal documents for said clients or simply rendering legal
opinion or advisory.
Paralegal Training
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), through its lawyers and legal
officers, renders legal assistance to IP clients as part of the general mandate of the Office
to recognize, protect and promote the rights of our ICCs/IPs
The paralegal training program seeks to educate and inform ICCs/IPs of their rights, the
various applicable remedies they have in case these rights are violated and abused, and
the different jurisdiction (courts, prosecution offices, quasi-judicial and administrative
bodies, and other government agencies) where they may lodge their complaints for such
violations.
IPs from communities need to be trained in order that they may assist other members of
their communities in reporting violations of their rights and gathering pieces of evidence,
as well as assist NCIP or their private lawyers on legal concerns brought to them for
proper action. Adequate and appropriate training is a must for paralegals in order that
they may be able to assist other members of the community in accessing justice.
Paralegals must not only be aware of the basic provisions of laws relating to IPs but must
also be aware of their roles and limitations in assisting people. They must also be trained
on keeping records and be provided exposure to various government agencies so that they
are able to help others approach these agencies.

Documentation of Customary Laws

The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 or Republic Act No. 8371 provides for the
primacy of customary laws and practices in resolving disputes. Section 65 of IPRA
provides that ,when disputes involve ICCs/IPs, customary laws and practices shall be
used to resolve the dispute.
Furthermore, Section 63 of the same law states that customary laws, traditions and
practices of the ICCs/IPs of the land where the conflict arises shall be applied first with
respect to property rights, claims and ownership, hereditary succession and settlement of
land dispute.
Several administrative orders and guidelines of the NCIP also emphasize the importance
and primacy of customary laws in resolving disputes involving ICCs/IPs.It essential to
undertake the documentation of customary laws not only for the sake of documentation
and preservation, but in order to have a full understanding of these laws and practices,
and to have ready and available resources in resolving disputes brought before the NCIP.
Thus, considering the importance of customary laws, the NCIP is tasked to undertake the
documentation of customary laws.

10) ADJUDICATION SERVICES

 The IPRA mandates the NCIP, acting through its Regional Hearing Offices (RHOs) and
the Commission En Banc (CEB) and in the exercise of its quasi-judicial powers, to
resolve all claims and disputes involving rights of ICCs/IPs, subject to the provisions of
the IPRA and its implementing Rules, and other regulations, as well as, pertinent
jurisprudence. With the aforementioned mandate, the NCIP, through its RHOs and CEB
reviews cases submitted before it for adjudication, as a quasi-judicial tribunal, and after
due proceedings and hearings, resolves the issues raised for adjudication.

3) NATIONAL CULTURAL HERITAGE ACT OF 2009 ( RA 10066)

This law provides protection to cultural properties. The preservation of cultural heritage
and cultural properties are of paramount importance. There are strict protocols to be
observed in handling cultural properties.

Salient features of RA 10066:

a) Important Cultural Properties ( Section 5)

b) Categories of cultural property ( Section 4)
c) Designation of Heritage Zones ( Section 13)
d) Provision on Indigenous Properties ( Section 21)

4) MANLILIKHA NG BAYAN ACT ( RA 7355)

This law aims to give due recognition and incentives to citizens who distinguish
themselves in traditional folk arts

For the purpose of this Act, Manlilikha ng Bayan shall mean a citizen or a group of
citizens engaged in any traditional art uniquely Filipino, whose distinctive skills have
reached such a high level of technical and artistic excellence and have been passed on to
and widely practiced by the present generation in his/her community with the same
degree of techinical and artistic competence. (Section 3)

V. LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Submission of assignment
VI. ASSIGNMENT NUMBER 4

1) What are the four bundles of rights of indigenous peoples under RA 8371?
Discuss some issues and realities in implementing the four bundles of rights.
2) What are the different categories of cultural property under RA 10066? Why is
this law important to indigenous peoples?
3) What government programs in your opinion, should be prioritized for
indigenous peoples? Discuss.

VII. REFERENCE

1) Carino, Jacqueline (2007). Country Technical Notes on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues.

2) NCIP Powerpoint presentation
3) http://ncip.gov.ph/
4) https://ncca.gov.ph/republic-act-7355-manlilikha-ng-bayan-act/
5) http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/republic_acts/ra%2010066.pdf