MODULE 3

PHILIPPINE NATIONAL LAND USE POLICIES AND THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’

LAND RIGHTS
The preceding Unit had shown that the indigenous peoples adhere to the principles of sharing and
stewardship over their resources. What happened and are happening to these principles under the colonial
and postcolonial regimes is what this Unit attempts to explore and explain.
Relevant in the discussion of land use policies and land rights are the concepts defined by RA 8371
(The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997):
Ancestral Domains — xxx 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. xxx 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 — xxx 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 — xxx 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 — xxx title formally recognizing the rights of ICCs/IPs over
their ancestral lands;
Customary Laws — xxx 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 — xxx 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 Political Structures — xxx 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 — xxx 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;
Native Title — xxx 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 — xxx 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 — xxx a private, nonprofit voluntary organization of members of an
ICC/IP which is accepted as representative of such ICCs/IPs;
Sustainable Traditional Resource Rights — xxx 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; and
Time Immemorial — xxx 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.

Table 1
Colonial Policies and Legacies that Affect the IPs’ Land Use and Tenure

Colonial
Policies/Legacies Goals/Salient Features

Regalian Doctrine considered the entire Philippine archipelago as property of the Spanish crown
except those lands that were titled to private individuals (Hermoso, 1994)
Torrens System, “all lands be registered with the State, and that private land would be issued
or Land titles under the Torrens titling system”(Tapang, 2007)
Registration Act “Privately-owned lands – by individuals and corporations – were registered and
No. 496, 1902 titled”(Danguilan-Vitug, 1993)
“Land registration system in which the government is the keeper of all land and
title records, and a land title serves as a certificate of full, indefeasible, and valid
ownership.”(http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/Torrens-system.html)
Philippine Bill of Set the ceilings on the hectarage of private individuals and corporations may
1902 acquire: 16 has. for private individuals and 1,024 has. for corporations.
The Torrens system, which the Americans instituted for the registration of lands,
did not solve the problem completely. Either they were not aware of the law or if
they did, they could not pay the survey cost and other fees required in applying
for a Torrens title.http://www.dar.gov.ph

Table 1 continued

Colonial
Policies/Legacies Goals/Salient Features
Land Registration “declared all lands subject to the Torrens system of formal registration of land
Act of 1902 (Act title and empowered the State to issue to any legitimate claimant secure proof of
No. 496) title over a parcel of land. This system turned land into a commodity that could
be traded by the exchange of a piece of paper”(http://arizonajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Molintas.pdf)
Commonwealth xxx the Director of Lands shall have direct executive control of the survey,
Act 141 (Public classification, lease, sale or any other form of concession or disposition and
Land Act) management of the lands of the public domain, and his decisions as to questions
of fact shall be conclusive when approved by the Secretary of Agriculture and
Commerce.(C.A. No. 141, sec. 4)
xxx President, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Agriculture and
Commerce, shall from time to time classify the lands of the public domain into —
(a) Alienable or disposable; (b) Timber, and (c) Mineral lands, and
may at any time and in a like manner transfer such lands from one class to
another, for the purposes of their administration and disposition (C.A. No. 141, sec. 6)

Commonwealth Section3. All mineral lands of the public domain and minerals belonging to the
 Act No. 137 State, and their disposition, exploitation, development, or utilization, shall be
limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations, or associations, at least
60% of the capital of which is owned by such citizens, xxx
Section4. The ownership and the right to the use of land for agricultural,
industrial, commercial, residential, or for any purpose other than mining does not
include the ownership of, nor the right to extract or utilize, the minerals which
may be found on or under the surface.
Section5. The ownership of, and the right to extract and utilize, the mineral
included within all areas for which public agricultural land patents are granted
are excluded and excepted from all such patents.
Section6. The ownership of, and the right to extract and utilize, the minerals
included within all areas for which Torrens titles are granted are excluded and
excepted from all such titles.

Philippine “ordered that all unregistered lands become part of the public domain, and that
Commission Act only the State had the authority to classify or exploit the same” (http://arizonajournal.org/wp-
No. 178 of 1903 content/uploads/2015/11/Molintas.pdf)

Forestry Act, 1904 “to encourage rational exploitation of the forests by installation of an appropriate
regulatory environment to prescribe fees and taxes, and to define parameters for
conversion of forest land to agriculture”(Pulhin, 2002)

Mining Law of “gave the Americans the right to acquire public land for mining
1905 purposes”(http://arizonajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Molintas.pdf)

Public Land Acts “opened Mindanao and all other fertile lands that the State considered
of 1913, 1919 and unoccupied, unreserved, or otherwise unappropriated public lands to
1925 homesteaders and corporations, despite the fact that indigenous peoples were
living in these lands” (http://arizonajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Molintas.pdf)

Section 9. (Jones ―Public Property and Legislation on Public Domain, Timber and Mining
Law, 1916) That all the property and rights which may have been acquired in the Philippine
Islands by the United States under the treaty of peace with Spain, xxx, except
such land or other property as has been or shall be designated by the President
of the United States for military and other reservations of the Government of the
United States, and all lands which may have been subsequently acquired by the
Table 1 continued

Colonial
Policies/Legacies Goals/Salient Features
Section 9. (Jones Government of the Philippine Islands by purchase xxx, are hereby placed under
Law, 1916) the control of the government of said Islands to be administered or disposed of
for the benefit of the inhabitants thereof xxx
Section 11, Jones xxx taxes and assessments on property, xxx, may be imposed for the purposes of
Law, 1916 the Philippine Government and the provincial and municipal governments
thereof, xxx
Forest Law 1917 xxx “establishedcommunal forests and pastures for the use of communities,
though the forest land itself remained under state control” (Pulhin, 2002)
1935 Constitution Stipulated that all forest lands belong to the state (Pulhin, 2002)
Forestry xxx “residents
of a municipality were granted the privilege to cut, collect and
Administrative remove free of charge, forest products for their personal use xxx issuance of a
Order No. 14-1 xxx permit by the Bureau of Forestry was needed xxx in order to harvest timber
(1941) in the communal forest” xxx (Pulhin, 2002)
Notes: Entries were directly lifted from the cited sources.
Read the required reading materials (1,2, & 3) in Appendix C.

Table 2
Post-Colonial/National Land Use Policies that Affect the IPs’ Native Titles
Post-
 Colonial/National Salient Features
Land Use
Policies
PD 705 “declares all lands 18% in slope or over are automatically considered as
forestland and therefore not alienable and disposable unless released from the
forest zone”(http://arizonajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Molintas.pdf)
PD 1559 Presidential Decree 1559 – kaingeros(slash-and-burn dwellers), squatters, cultural
minorities, and other occupants of public forests or unclassified public land shall,
whenever the best land useof the area so demands, be ejected and relocated to
the nearest government settlement area(https://www.academia.edu/1851330/Communal-Land-Management-in-the-Cordillera-
Region-chap02)

RA 7942 (Mining “facilitates the entry of large foreign and local mining corporations to enter the
Act of 1995) mineral-rich territories of indigenous peoples xxx opens up the mining sector to
100% foreign control. Most of the exploration permits applications for Financial
and Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAA) and Mineral Production Sharing
Agreements (MPSA), and mining operations cover ancestral lands of the
indigenous peoples”(http://arizonajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Molintas.pdf)
RA 8371 “xxx recognizes the indigenous peoples’ rights to their ancestral lands and
(Indigenous domain, and specifically sets forth the indigenous concept of ownership xxx
Peoples Rights recognizes that indigenous peoples’ ancestral domain is community property that
Act) belongs to all generations xxx recognizes the customs of indigenous peoples and
their right to self-governance and empowerment” (http://arizonajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Molintas.pdf)
RA 7586 “effectively deprived xxx, living in and around the mountain, of their right to utilize
(National the natural resources that had traditionally sustained them xxx endeavors to map
Integrated and zone areas to be preserved for ecological reasons xxx limits the entry of IPs
Protected Areas and their economic activities into areas such as watersheds and national parks
[NIPAS]) xxx effectively curtails the rights of IPs to utilize the natural resources that sustain
them”(http://arizonajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Molintas.pdf)
Notes: Entries were directly lifted from the cited sources.
Read the required reading materials (3,4, 5, 6, & 7) in Appendix C.

Reflect on the following:

1. Factors that contribute to deforestation in the Philippines
2. How the national forestry policies affect the natural capital of the IPs and the entire Filipino nation
3. Factors that affect the productivity of the mining industry in the Philippines
4. How the mining policy affect the natural capital of the IPs and the entire Filipino nation
5. Give a critique on the forestry and mining policies of the Philippines
6. Pros and Cons of Mining
7. Use the functionalist perspective in explaining the environmental problems in the Philippines
8. Role of the citizens in the protection of their nation’s natural capital
9. Conflict of laws

Table 3
IPs’ Experiences in Securing their Land Rights

Natural Year/ Economic Environmental Social Costs Status of Mechanisms

(Napnapan, Pantukan,Mansaka IP Groups

Capital Introduction Benefits Costs CADT/CALT to Strengthen

of New Application the IP Group
Practices
Rivers 1964: logging Employment Landslides Bribes and CADT was Join various
teemed with companies became as the processed but training,
crabs and Livelihood; perennial as the organization not yet educational
freshwater 1978: small- Honoraria, rains of the pro- released seminars,
fish, other scale mining scholarships company workshops on
edibles; 1994: for children, Rivers – tribal council land laws;
Upland rice, became big- travelling biologically dividedturned
the
Mandaya

River teemed 1980s: Environmental Many CADT for Helped in

with wild fish, Christian n.d. destruction their backs 4,000 has. – crafting –
crabs, religious on their own awarded in Ancestral
shrimps; groups – folk beliefs 2001 Domain
(Manurigao, New Bataan,

missionary Sustainable
Community’s school – Development
forests: deer, curriculum – and Protection
 Mandaya
Encroach- Denudation of Schools and Delay in the
n.d. ment by n.d. ancestral media processing of n.d.
outsiders into domain estranged their CADT
their lands; the children
(Davao Oriental)

from their
own culture

Table 3 continued

Natural Year/ Economic Environmental Social Costs Status of Mechanisms

IP Groups

Capital Introduction Benefits Costs CADT/CALT to Strengthen

of New Application the IP Group
Practices
(Davao Oriental)Mandaya

n.d. Logging n.d. Fear of n.d.

companies not having
operate for titles to their
many years lands and the
deprivation of
their children
of education
(Coron, PuertoTagbanwa/ua

Swidden Turn of the Learned to Logging wiped Disunity 1995: Organized

fields: rice, 20th century: earn as out almaciga brought DENR their ranks and
cassava, large-scale wage trees in about by granted sought
sweet logging laborers; Cabayugan some stewardship assistance
potatoes, Lowlanders developed (Cola, 2007) members rights over from PAFID
bananas and developed handcrafted who sought their ancestral
vegetables farmlands products; individual domain

Table 3 continued

Natural Year/ Economic Environmental Social Costs Status of Mechanisms

IP Groups

Capital Introduction Benefits Costs CADT/CALT to Strengthen

of New Application the IP Group
Practices
(Coron, Puerto Princesa, Palawan)Tagbanwa/ua

very modest
success as
they are not
consistent
with their
survival
strategies
(Cola, 2007)
(Tagabukid of SanMangyan

8 clean rivers 1972: logging Rivers and 1994: with the

and thick operations n.d. forests were n.d. help of n.d.
forests started ruined PAFID,
processed
Mining their CADC
companies and
entered eventually
with got
(Buhid, Mindoro)Mangyans

Maize is Livelihood Forest cover Divisions Christian 1995:

grown to receded developed migrants PAFID’s n.d.
purchase rice assistance,
from the Logging Severe land NGOs prepared 6
lowlands; rice operations erosion sympathetic applications
eaten during to the NDF for CADC
Mining interfered
the planting
Legend: n.d. – no data
Notes: Entries were directly lifted from Carino et al. (2010); Cola (2007); Gibson (2015); Masinaring (2011).

Read the required reading materials (7,8, & 9) in Appendix C

Reflect on the following:

1. Common threats to the IPs’ land rights
2. Resulting cultural changes in the indigenous communities
3. Shortcomings of concerned government agencies and NGOs’ in securing the IPs’ land rights
4. Significant role of the civil society in securing the IPs’ land rights
5. How IPs are empowering themselves to be assertive of their rights
6. How loss of land rights results to loss of IP culture
Unit References

Carino, J., Regpala, M.E. & de Chavez, R. (Eds.). (2010). Asserting land rights. Baguio City: Tebteba Foundation
Cola, R.M. (2007). The impact of ecotourism on the Batak and Tagbanua. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-
manila/documents/publication/wcms_124793.pdf

Crisologo-Mendoza, L. & Prill-Brett, J. (n.d.). Communal land management in the Cordillera region of the Philippines .
https://www.academia.edu/1851330/Communal-Land-Management-in-the-Cordillera-Region-chap02

Danguilan-Vitug, M. (1993). The politics of logging: Power from the forest. Philippines: Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

Gibson, T. (2015). Sacrifice and sharing in the Philippine highlands: Religion and society among the Buid of Mindoro. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila
University Press. F305.89921G3571

Hermoso, R.R. (Ed.). (1994). Development and democracy: A people’s agenda. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila Center for Social Policy and Public
Affairs

Masinaring, M.R.N. (2011). Understanding the Lumad: A closer look at a misunderstood culture. Baguio City: Tebteba Foundation.
http://tebtebba.org/index.php/all-resources/category/8-books?download=917:understanding-the-lumad-revised-edition . Also F306.095997M378

Molintas, J.M. (2004). The Philippine indigenous peoples’ struggle for land and life: Challenging legal texts. Arizona Journal of International &
Comparative Law. 21, (1). http://arizonajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Molintas.pdf

Prill-Brett, J. (2015). Tradition and transformation: Studies on Cordillera indigenous culture. UP Baguio: Cordillera Studies Center. SC-Cor 306.0959917
B7566

Pulhin, J.M. (2002). Trends in forest policy of the Philippines.College of Forestry and Natural Resources, UPLos Banos.
https://pub.iges.or.jp/system/files/publication_documents/pub/policyreport/180/03_Philippines.pdf

Raluto, R.D. (2015). Poverty and ecology at the crossroads. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University. F 201.77599 R1399

Raymundo, R.D. (2014). The Philippine Mining Act of 1995: Is the law sufficient in achieving the goals of output growth, attracting foreign investment,
environmental protection and preserving sovereignty?School of Economics, DLSU, Presented at the DLSU Research Congress 2014.
https://www.dlsu.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/pdf/conferences/research-congress-proceedings/2014/SEE/SEE-III-026-FT.pdf

RA 8371. The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1997/10/29/republic-act-no-8371/

Tapang, B.P. (Ed.). (2007). Cordillera in June: Essays celebrating June Prill-Brett, anthropologist. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.

Tujan, A. Jr., (2002). Corporate imperialism in the Philippines.In Evans, G., Goodman, J., & Lansbury, N. (Eds.), (2002). Moving mountains:
Communities confront mining & globalization. New York: Zed Books

http://www.dar.gov.ph