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; 1

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