RA 8371 – The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act

About 15% of the Philippines’ population belong to distinct indigenous

communities and to honor their identity, IPRA Act was passed to recognize the
ancestral land rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples and
create the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) who shall be the primary
government agency responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies and
programs to recognize, protect and promote the rights of the ICCs/IPs.
The State aims to institute and establish the necessary mechanisms to enforce
and guarantee the realization of these rights; taking into consideration the customs,
traditions, values, beliefs, interests and institutions, and to adopt and implement
measure to protect the rights of ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains.

The Regalian Doctrine

Under Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution, all lands of public domain belong
to the State and other natural resources are owned by the State.

“Section 2. All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other
mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and
fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State. With the exception of
agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated. The exploration,
development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and
supervision of the State. The State may directly undertake such activities, or it may enter
into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing agreements with Filipino citizens,
or corporations or associations at least 60 per centum of whose capital is owned by such
citizens. Such agreements may be for a period not exceeding twenty-five years,
renewable for not more than twenty-five years, and under such terms and conditions as
maybe provided by law. In cases of water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or
industrial uses other than the development of waterpower, beneficial use may be the
measure and limit of the grant.
 The State shall protect the nations marine wealth in its archipelagic waters, territorial
sea, and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to
Filipino citizens.

The Congress may, by law, allow small-scale utilization of natural resources by Filipino
citizens, as well as cooperative fish farming, with priority to subsistence fishermen and
fish workers in rivers, lakes, bays, and lagoons.

The President may enter into agreements with foreign-owned corporations involving
either technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration, development, and
utilization of minerals, petroleum, and other mineral oils according to the general terms
and conditions provided by law, based on real contributions to the economic growth and
general welfare of the country. In such agreements, the State shall promote the
development and use of local scientific and technical resources.

The President shall notify the Congress of every contract entered into in accordance with
this provision, within thirty days from its execution. x x x.”

IPRA and the Regalian Doctrine

Sec. 2, Article XII of the Constitution provides that only the agricultural lands may
be alienable. All other natural resources and its exploration, development and utilization
shall be under the full control and supervision of the State.
IPRA’s cornerstone provisions from the Constitution are covered in Section 2,
Article II which promotes the rights of ICCs/IPs; Section 5, Article XII which aims to
protect their rights; Section 6, Article XIII which establishes a special agency for them;
and Section 17, Article XIV which recognizes and protects the right of ICCs/IPs to their
cultures, traditions and institutions.

Ancestral Domains and Lands

Ancestral domains refer to all areas generally belonging to ICCs/IPs held under a
claim of ownership, occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs or through their ancestors since
time immemorial that includes ancestral land, forests, agricultural and other lands as
well as bodies of water, mineral and other natural resources. Ancestral lands are those
lands occupied and utilized by ICCs/IPs through the same manner as ancestral
domains.
In the case of Cruz vs Secretary of Natural Resources, Justice Puno stressed
that ancestral lands and ancestral domains are not parts of the public domain.
Section 3 of Article XII of the Constitution classifies lands into four categories: a)
agricultural, b) forest or timber, c) mineral lands and d) national parks while Section 5 of
the same article mentions ancestral lands and ancestral domains which foes not classify
them under any of the four categories. IPRA categorically declares ancestral lands and
domains held by native title as never to have been public land. Regalian doctrine vests
in the State ownership of the lands of the public domain which does not cover ancestral
lands and ancestral domains as positively provided for by the Constitution.
These provisions of RA 8371 contravene the provision of the Constitution
regarding the exploration, development and utilization (EDU) of the natural resources
which shall be under full control and supervision of the State. By providing for an all-
encompassing definition of “ancestral domains” and “ancestral lands” which might even
include private lands found within said areas, sections of the law violate the rights of
private landowners and ancestral domains may include public domain.
Native title as established in the case of Cariño vs Insular Government is the
concept of a private land title that has existed irrespective of any royal grant from the
State in difference from ownership from acquisitive prescription from the State.
Ownership by native title presupposes that the land in question has always been private
and has been held by its possessor and his predecessors-in-interest since time
immemorial and is deemed never to have been part of the public domain.
Land titles and the concept of individual land ownership under the Civil law is
alien to ICCs/IPs and IPRA grants a distinct kind of ownership for them over ancestral
lands and ancestral domains.
Natural Resources
Justice Puno in his separate opinion states that priority rights in the exploration,
development and utilization of the natural resources in the ancestral domains
remainwith the State and it merely grants the right to management and conservation.
This implies that there is a superior entity which is the State who has the power to grant
preferential rights over the resources to whoever it chooses.
RA 8371, Sec. 57 provides that the ICCs/IPS have the priority rights in the
harvesting, extraction, development or exploitation of any natural resources within their
ancestral domains.
In the case of La Bugal-B’laan Tribal Association, Inc. vs Ramos, it has been
held that except for agricultural lands, natural resources cannot be alienated and its
exploration, development and utilization shall be under the full control and supervision
of the State. Regalian doctrine reserves to the State all the natural wealth that may be
found even if the land where the discovery is made be private.

IPRA and the Constitution as a Conclusion

The ancestral domains and ancestral lands intended by the law addresses a
major problem of ICCs/IPs which is loss of land and such is a vital concern in terms of
their survival. The issue raised insofar as the grant of ancestral land and domains to
ICCs/IPs as a communal property does not violate the presumption of constitutionality
as the said lands are not part of public domain and is considered to have never been
part of the public domain as provided by Section 5, Article XII in relation to Section 3 of
the same article. The intent of this law is to grant communal ownership to ICCs/IPs to
their lands by virtue of native title which are presumed to have been held under a claim
of ownership and indisputably presumed to have been held the same way before the
Spanish conquest.