Indigenous People Rights Act

Question 1

R.A. No. 8731 or the Indigenous People’s Rights’ Act

Answer 1

It declare the ancestral lands and ancestral domains are not part of the lands of public domain. They are private lands belonging to indigenous people of cultural minorities or indigenous peoples, based on NATIVE TITLES, since tim immemorial.

Question 2

Ancestral domains

Answer 2

Areas generally belonging to ICCs/ IPs comprising lands, inland waters, coastal areas, and natural resources held under a claim of ownership, occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs, by themselves through their ancestors, communally or individually since time immemorial, continuously to the present even when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as a consequence of government projects or any other voluntary dealing entered into by government and private individul or corporations, and which are necessary to ensure their economic, social and cultural welfare.

Question 3

Ancestral lands

Answer 3

Lands occupied. Possessed and utilized by individuals, families and clans who are members of the ICC/IPs since time immemorial, by themselves or through their predecessor-in-interest, under claims of individual or traditional group ownership, continuously to present even when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as a consequence of government projects or any other voluntary dealing entered into by government and private individuals or corporations, including but not limited to residential lots, rice terraces or paddies, private forests, swidden farms and tree lots.

Question 4

NATIVE TITLE

Answer 4

Native title refers to pre-conquest rights to lands 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 thus presumed to have been held that way since before the Spanish Conquest.

Question 5

CERTIFICATE OF ANCESTRAL DOMAIN TITLE

Answer 5

Unlike Native Title, it entitles the ICCs/IPs to a Torrens Title. It formally recognizes the indigenous concept of ownership of the ICCs/IPs over their ancestral domain.

Question 6

Rights to Ancestral Domains (Sec. 7)

Answer 6

(a) Right to Ownership;
(b) Right to Develop Lands and Natural Resources;
(c) Right to Stay in Territories;
(d) Right in Case of Displacement
(e) Right to Regulate Entry of Migrants;
(f) Right to Safe and Clean Air and Water;
(g) Right to Claim Parts of Reservations;
(h) Right to Resolve Conflict.

Question 7

What are the Rights to Ancestral Lands (Sec 8 and 12)

Answer 7

(a) Right to transfer land property. (among members of the same ICCs)
(b) Right to Redemption. (nonmember…tainted by vitiated consent…unconscionable consideration…15 years from transfer)
(c) Option to secure certificate of title under CA 141, as amended Land Registration Act 46.

Question 8

What are the powers and function of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (Sec. 44)

Answer 8

To issue certificate of ancestral land/domain title.

To issue appropriate certification as pre-condition to the grant of permit, lease, gran, or any other similar authority for the disposition, utilization, management and appropriation by any private individual, corporate entity or any governmental agency, corporation or subdivision thereof on any part or portion of the ancestral domain taking in to consideration the consensus approval of the ICCs/IPs concerned;