Cruz v.

DENR
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). Petitioners assail the
constitutionality of the following provisions of the IPRA and its Implementing Rules on the
ground that they amount to an unlawful deprivation of the State’s ownership over lands of the
public domain as well as minerals and other natural resources therein, in violation of the
regalian doctrine embodied in Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution
Issue:
 Whether or not Sections 3(a)(b), 5, 6, 7, 8, 57and 58 of IPRA unlawfully deprive the state of its ownership of
lands of public domain and violate the regalian doctrine.

NO. Said provisions affirming the

IPs’ ownership of their ancestral land by virtue of native title do not diminish the state’s ownership of lands
within public domain because ancestral lands and domains are considered private land. Sec. 3(a) does not
confer any right of ownership over the natural resources to the ICCs/IPs. Its purpose is merely definitional. Sec.
57 only grants priority rights to ICCs/IPs in the utilization of natural resources and not absolute ownership
thereof. (Justice Kapunan)
Ancestral lands and domains are not part of public domain. They are private and belong to the ICCs/IPs. The
classification of lands in the public domain under Sec. 3, Art. XII of the Constitution does not include ancestral
lands nor domain. The rights of ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains and lands may be acquired in 2 modes: (1)
native title or (2) torrens title under the Public Land Act and Land Registration Act with respect to ancestral lands
only. Both modes recognize the land as private. (Justice Puno)