Republic Act No. 8371—The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997

R.A. No. 8371—The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997

Republic Act (RA) No. 8371, otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997, has been around for almost fifteen years to recognize and protect the rights of the Indigenous People of the Philippines. More specifically, RA No. 8371 is an act to recognize, protect, and promote the rights of indigenous cultural communities/indigenous people, creating a national commission of indigenous people, establishing implementing mechanisms, appropriating funds therefor, and for other purposes. In simple words, the said Act provides indigenous peoples (IPs) the right to their ancestral domains and lands.

Indigenous peoples share distinctive traits that set them apart from the Filipino mainstream. While the mainstream Filipinos are Christians, the indigenous people are the non-Christians. Accordingly, the IPs “live in less accessible, marginal, mostly upland areas. They have a system of self-government not dependent upon the laws of the central administration of the Republic of the Philippines. They follow ways of life and customs that are perceived as different from those of the rest of the population” (Cruz v. DENR).

Ancestral domains, based on the definition provided in RA No. 8371, transcend physical and residential territories to include areas of spiritual, cultural and traditional practices. Ancestral domains, as defined in the IPRA, “refer to all areas generally belonging to [Indigenous Cultural Communities] ICCs/IPs comprising lands, inland waters, coastal areas, and natural resources therein, 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 to 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 entered into by government and private individuals/corporations, and which are necessary to ensure their economic, social and cultural welfare. It shall include ancestral lands, forests, pasture, residential, agricultural and other lands individually owned whether alienable and disposable or otherwise, hunting grounds, burial grounds, worship areas, bodies of water, mineral and other natural resources, and 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, which are part of ancestral domains, are defined in RA No. 8371 as lands “occupied, possessed and utilized by individuals, families and clans who are members of the ICCs/IPs since time immemorial, by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest, under claims of individual or traditional group ownership, continuously, to the present except when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as a consequence of government projects and other voluntary dealings entered into by government and private individuals/corporations, including, but not limited to, residential lots, rice terraces or paddies, private forests, swidden farms and tree lots.”

RA No. 8371 provides IPs’ the rights to ancestral domains, which include the right of ownership, right to develop lands and natural resources, right to stay in the territories, right in case of displacement (temporary or permanent resettlement and right to return), right to regulate entry of migrants, right to safe and clean air and water, right to claim parts of reservations (except those intended for common public welfare and service) and the right to resolve conflict. For ancestral lands, in particular, IPs have the right to transfer land/property rights to/among members of the same ICCs/IPs and the right to redeem the property in case of transfers that raise questions on consent given by IPs and transfers made with unjust considerations and/or prices.

IPs in the Philippines can claim ownership of their ancestral domains in three different ways, which include the following—(1) by virtue of a native title, getting formal recognition of ownership by acquiring a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT); (2) certificate of ancestral land title (CALT) from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)-Ancestral Domains Office (ADO); or (3) by securing a certificate of title by virtue of “Commonwealth Act 141, as amended, or the Land Registration Act 496. A native title, according to RA No. 8371, “refers to pre-conquest rights to land and domains, which, as far back as memory reaches, have been held under a claim of private ownership by ICCs/IPs, have never been public lands and are thus indisputably presumed to have been held that way since before the Spanish Conquest.” A CALT or CADT, on the other hand, is granted by the government and is provided for by law to those IPs who wish to obtain these titles. The IPRA, specifically Section 12, also states that IPs have the option to acquire certificates of title under the provisions of the amended Commonwealth Act No. 141. This Act follows the Torrens System of land registration and titles issued under this system are called Torrens titles.