UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS

Graduate School of Law

Tenurial Instruments in the Philippines: Social and Constitutional Perspective
LAW 705

PROPOSED OUTLINE FOR REPORT ON THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS ACT (IPRA)

Reporters: ATTY. SHEENA HAZEL REYES-BELLEN

ATTY. MELBA DAVID
ATTY. FRANCIS MEYNARD SABILI

Date of Report: OCTOBER 28, 2023

ATTY. SHEENA

I. Overview
1. Historical Underpinnings of Indigenous Land Rights
2. Significance and Constitutional Challenge Against IPRA

II. RIGHTS UNDER IPRA

1. Rights to Ancestral Domains
a. Concept of Ancestral Lands/Domains
b. Concept of Ownership and Prohibition on Sale and Encumbrance
c. Composition of Ancestral Lands/Domain
d. Right of ownership and Incidence of Ownership
i. Heirs of Tunged v. Sta. Lucia Development, G.R. No. 231737. March 6,
2018.
e. Responsibilities of ICCs/ Ips to their Ancestral Domains
f. Unauthorized and Unlawful Intrusion
g. Recognition of Ancestral Domain Rights
i. Arnold Daco v. Rubén Cabajar, G.R. No. 222611. November 15, 2021.
ii. Lone Congressional District of Benguet Province v. Lepanto Consolidated
Mining Co., G.R. Nos. 244063 & G.R. No. 244216, June 21, 2022.

2. Right to Self-Governance and Empowerment

a. Self-governance and Support for Autonomous Regions
b. Right to Participate in Decision-Making
i. Province of North Cotabato v. The Government of the Republic of the
Philippines, G.R. No. 183591. October 14, 2008.
c. Peoples Organization

3. Social Justice and Human Rights

a. Equal Protection and Non-Discrimination of ICCs/Ips

ATTY. MELBA
4. Cultural Integrity
a. Protection of Indigenous Culture, Traditions, and Institutions

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 b. Educational Systems
i. Council of Teachers and Staff of Colleges and Universities of the
Philippines v. Secretary of Education, G.R. No. 216930. October 9, 2018.
c. Recognition for Cultural Diversity
d. Community Intellectual Rights
e. Access to Biological and Genetic Resources

III. PRIMARY OFFICE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’

1. National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)
a. Mandate
b. Composition
c. Qualifications and Removal from Office

IV. DELINEATING AND RECOGNITION OF ANCESTRAL DOMAINS

1. Identification, Delineation and Certification of Ancestral Lands
2. Fraudulent Claims
3. Communal Rights and Property Regimes
4. As Stewards in the Exercise of Priority Rights to Natural Resources
a. (Our Land) Association v. Argentina
5. Environmental Considerations
6. Certification and Precondition
7. Exemption from Taxes
8. Resolution of Conflicts

ATTY. FRANCIS
V. QUASI-JURISDICTION OF THE NCIP AND ENFORCEMENT OF RIGHTS UNDER THE IPRA
1. Jurisdiction of the NCIP
2. Appeals to the Court of Appeals
3. Decisions, Awards, Orders
4. Quasi-Judicial Powers of the NCIP

VI. PENAL PROVISIONS

1. Punishable Acts and Applicable Penalties
2. Persons Subject to Punishment

VII. SUMMARY

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