LAW FINALS R.A 8371

• Republic Act No. 8371 | GOVPH
• Short Title

  The Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997
• Declaration of State Policies


  • The State shall recognize and promote the rights of ICCs/IPs within the framework of national unity and development
  • The State shall protect the rights of ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains to ensure their economic, social and cultural well being and shall recognize the applicability of customary laws governing property rights or relations in determining the ownership and extent of ancestral domain
  • The State shall recognize, respect and protect the rights of ICCs/IPs to preserve and develop their cultures, traditions and institutions. It shall consider these rights in the formulation of national laws and policies
  • The State shall guarantee that members of the ICCs/IPs regardless of sex, shall equally enjoy the full measure of human rights and freedoms without distinction or discrimination
  • The State shall take measures, with the participation of the ICCs/IPs concerned, to protect their rights and guarantee respect for their cultural integrity, and to ensure that members of the ICCs/IPs benefit on an equal footing from the rights and opportunities which national laws and regulations grant to other members of the population
  • The State recognizes its obligations to respond to the strong expression of the ICCs/IPs for cultural integrity by assuring maximum ICC/IP participation in the direction of education, health, as well as other services of ICCs/IPs, in order to render such services more responsive to the needs and desires of these communities
• Ancestral Domains


  All areas generally belonging to 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
• Ancestral Lands


  Land 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
• Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title


  A title formally recognizing the rights of possession and ownership of ICCs/IPs over their ancestral domains identified and delineated in accordance with this law
• Certificate of Ancestral Lands Title


  A title formally recognizing the rights of ICCs/IPs over their ancestral lands
• Communal Claims


  Claims on land, resources and rights thereon, belonging to the whole community within a defined territory
• Customary Laws


  A body of written and/or unwritten rules, usages, customs and practices traditionally and continually recognized, accepted and observed by respective ICCs/IPs
• Free and Prior Informed Consent


  The consensus of all members of the ICCs/IPs to be determined in accordance with their respective customary laws and practices, free from any external manipulation, interference and coercion, and obtained after fully disclosing the intent and scope of the activity, in a language and process understandable to the community
• Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples


  A group of people or homogenous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription by others, who have continuously lived as organized community on communally bounded and defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos
• Indigenous Political Structures


  Organizational and cultural leadership systems, institutions, relationships, patterns and processes for decision-making and participation, identified by ICCs/IPs such as, but not limited to, Council of Elders, Council of Timuays, Bodong Holders, or any other tribunal or body of similar nature
• Individual Claims


  Claims on land and rights thereon which have been devolved to individuals, families and clans including, but not limited to, residential lots, rice terraces or paddies and tree lots
• National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)


  The office created under this Act, which shall be under the Office of the President, and which shall be the primary government agency responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies, plans and programs to recognize, protect and promote the rights of ICCs/IPs
• Native Title


  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 are thus indisputably presumed to have been held that way since before the Spanish Conquest
• Nongovernment Organization


  A private, nonprofit voluntary organization that has been organized primarily for the delivery of various services to the ICCs/IPs and has an established track record for effectiveness and acceptability in the community where it serves
• People's Organization


  A private, nonprofit voluntary organization of members of an ICC/IP which is accepted as representative of such ICCs/IPs
• Sustainable Traditional Resource Rights


  The rights of ICCs/IPs to sustainably use, manage, protect and conserve a) land, air, water, and minerals; b) plants, animals and other organisms; c) collecting, fishing and hunting grounds; d) sacred sites; and e) other areas of economic, ceremonial and aesthetic value in accordance with their indigenous knowledge, beliefs, systems and practices
• Time Immemorial


  A period of time when as far back as memory can go, certain ICCs/IPs are known to have occupied, possessed in the concept of owner, and utilized a defined territory devolved to them, by operation of customary law or inherited from their ancestors, in accordance with their customs and traditions
• Ancestral lands/domains shall include such concepts of territories which cover
• ICC/IP


  Members of an organization accepted as representative of such ICCs/IPs
• Sustainable Traditional Resource Rights


  Rights of ICCs/IPs to sustainably use, manage, protect and conserve land, air, water, minerals, plants, animals, collecting/fishing/hunting grounds, sacred sites, and other areas of economic, ceremonial and aesthetic value in accordance with their indigenous knowledge, beliefs, systems and practices
• Time Immemorial


  A period of time when as far back as memory can go, certain ICCs/IPs are known to have occupied, possessed, and utilized a defined territory devolved to them, by operation of customary law or inherited from their ancestors, in accordance with their customs and traditions
• Ancestral Lands/Domains


  Territories which cover not only the physical environment but the total environment including the spiritual and cultural bonds to the areas which the ICCs/IPs possess, occupy and use and to which they have claims of ownership
• Indigenous Concept of Ownership


  Ancestral domains and all resources found therein shall serve as the material bases of their cultural integrity, and are the ICC's/IP's private but community property which belongs to all generations and therefore cannot be sold, disposed or destroyed
• Composition of Ancestral Lands/Domains


  • All areas generally belonging to ICCs/IPs as referred under Sec. 3, items (a) and (b) of this Act
• Unauthorized and unlawful intrusion upon, or use of any portion of the ancestral domain, or any violation of the rights hereinbefore enumerated, shall be punishable under this law
• The Government shall take measures to prevent non-ICCs/IPs from taking advantage of the ICCs/IPs customs or lack of understanding of laws to secure ownership, possession of land belonging to said ICCs/IPs
• The rights of ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains by virtue of Native Title shall be recognized and respected
• Formal recognition, when solicited by ICCs/IPs concerned, shall be embodied in a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT), which shall recognize the title of the concerned ICCs/IPs over the territories identified and delineated
• Individual members of cultural communities, with respect to their individually-owned ancestral lands who, by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest, have been in continuous possession and occupation of the same in the concept of owner since time immemorial or for a period of not less than thirty (30) years immediately preceding the approval of this Act and uncontested by the members of the same ICCs/IPs shall have the option to secure title to their ancestral lands
• Individually-owned ancestral lands, which are agricultural in character and actually used for agricultural, residential, pasture, and tree farming purposes, including those with a slope of eighteen percent (18%) or more, are hereby classified as alienable and disposable agricultural lands
• The option granted to secure title to individually-owned ancestral lands shall be exercised within twenty (20) years
• Option to Secure Certificate of Title Under Commonwealth Act 141, as amended, or the Land Registration Act 496


  Individual members of cultural communities, with respect to their individually-owned ancestral lands who, by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest, have been in continuous possession and occupation of the same in the concept of owner since time immemorial or for a period of not less than thirty (30) years immediately preceding the approval of this Act and uncontested by the members of the same ICCs/IPs shall have the option to secure title to their ancestral lands
• The option granted under this section shall be exercised within twenty (20) years from the approval of this Act
• Self-Governance


  The State recognizes the inherent right of ICCs/IPs to self-governance and self-determination and respects the integrity of their values, practices and institutions
• The State shall continue to strengthen and support the autonomous regions created under the Constitution as they may require or need
• The State shall likewise encourage other ICCs/IPs not included or outside Muslim Mindanao and the Cordilleras to use the form and content of their ways of life as may be compatible with the fundamental rights defined in the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines and other internationally recognized human rights
• Justice System, Conflict Resolution Institutions, and Peace Building Processes


  The ICCs/IPs shall have the right to use their own commonly accepted justice systems, conflict resolution institutions, peace building processes or mechanisms and other customary laws and practices within their respective communities and as may be compatible with the national legal system and with internationally recognized human rights
• Right to Participate in Decision-Making


  ICCs/IPs have the right to participate fully, if they so choose, at all levels of decision-making in matters which may affect their rights, lives and destinies through procedures determined by them as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous political structures. Consequently, the State shall ensure that the ICCs/IPs shall be given mandatory representation in policy-making bodies and other local legislative councils