S. No. 1728
H. No. 9125
Republic of the Philippines
Congress of the Philippines
Metro Manila
Tenth Congress
Third Regular Session
Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday the twenty-eighth day of July, nineteen hundred
and ninety-seven
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8371
AN ACT TO RECOGNIZE, PROTECT AND PROMOTE THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS
CULTURAL COMMUNITIES/ INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, CREATING A NATIONAL
COMMISSION ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, ESTABLISHING IMPLEMENTING
MECHANISMS, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as "The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act
of 1997".
SEC. 2. Declaration of State Policies. - The State shall recognize and promote all the rights of
Indigenous Cultural Communities/ Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) hereunder enumerated
within the framework of the Constitution:
a) The State shall recognize and promote the rights of ICCs/IPs within the framework of
national unity and development;
b) 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;
c) 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;
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