Separate Opinion 15 G.R. No. 224469 a) Right of Ownership. - The right to claim ownership over lands, bodies of water traditionally and actually oocupied by ICCs/IPs, sacred places, traditional hunting and fishing grounds, and all improvements made by them at any time within the domains; b) Right to Develop Lands and Natural Resources. - Subject to Section 56 hereof, right to develop, control and use lands and territories traditionally occupied, owned, or used; to manage and conserve natural resources within the territories and uphold the responsibilities for future generations; to benefit and share the profits from allocation and utilization of the natural resources found therein; the right to negotiate the terms and conditions for the exploration of natural resources in the areas for the purpose of ensuring ecological, environmental protection and the conservation measures, pursuant to national and customary laws; the right to an informed and intelligent participation in the formulation and implementation of any project, government or private, that will affect or impact upon the ancestral domains and to receive just and fair compensation for any daip.ages which they may sustain as a result of the project; and the right to effective measures by the government to prevent any interference with, alienation and encroachment upon these rights[.] (emphasis and underscoring supplied) In this connection, I fully agree with Chief Justice Puno' s formulation in his Separate Opinion in Cruz that the proper reading of the IPRA insofar as the rights ofICCs/IPs to the natural resources are concerned is to read it in the context of small-scale utilization of natural resources by Filipino citizens which is allowed by the Constitution: 37 Ownership over the natural resources in the ancestral domains remains with the State and the ICCs/IPs are merely granted the right to "manage and conserve" them for future generations, "benefit and share" the profits from their allocation and utilization, and "negotiate the terms and conditions for their exploration" for the purpose of" ensuring ecological and environmental protection and conservation measures. " It must be noted that the right to negotiate t1ie terms and conditions over the natural resources covers only their exploration which must be for the purpose of ensuring ecological and environmental protection of, and conservation measures in the ancestral domain. It does not extend to the exploitation and development of natural resources. Simply stated, the ICCs/IPS' rights over the natural resources take the form of management or stewardship. For the ICCs/IPs may use these resources and share in the profits of their utilization or negotiate the terms for their exploration. At the same time, however, the ICCs/IPs must ensure that the natural resources within their ancestral domains are conserved for future generations and that the "utilization" of these 37 Article XII, Section 2, paragraph 3 of which states that "[t]he Congress may, by law, allow small-scale utilization of natural resources by Filipino citizens, as well as cooperative fish farming, with priority to subsistence fishermen and fishworkers in rivers, lakes, bays, and lagoons."

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