Section 2. Composition of Ancestral Domains/Lands. Ancestral Domains/ Lands are
all areas generally belonging to the ICCs/IPs, owned, occupied or possessed by themselves or
through their ancestors, communally or individually since time immemorial.
Ancestral lands/domains shall include such concepts of 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.
Ancestral domain consists of lands, inland waters, coastal areas, minerals and other
natural resources.
Lands within ancestral domains shall include, but not limited to, ancestral lands, forests,
pasturelands, residential lands, agricultural lands, hunting grounds, burial grounds, worship areas,
land no longer occupied by the ICCs/IPs but from which they traditionally had access to for their
subsistence and traditional activities, home ranges of ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic and/or
shifting cultivators, and other lands individually owned whether alienable and disposable or
otherwise. Ancestral land shall consist of, but not be limited to, residential lots, rice terraces or
paddies, private forests, swidden farms, and tree lots. Provided that property rights within the
ancestral domains already existing and/or vested upon effectivity of the Act, within ancestral
domains/lands, shall be respected and recognized.
Inland waters and coastal areas include fishing grounds, collecting grounds, and bodies of
water.
Section 3. Indigenous Concept of Ownership. Ancestral domains/lands and all
resources found therein form the material bases of the ICCs/IPs’ cultural integrity. The
indigenous concept of ownership therefor, generally holds that ancestral domains are the
ICCs’/IPs’ private but communal property which belongs to all generations and shall not be sold,
disposed nor destroyed. The present generation who are today’s occupants have the intergenerational responsibility of conserving the land and natural resources for future generations of
ICCs/IPs to enjoy.
Section 4. Recognition of Ancestral Domain and Land Rights. The rights of the
ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains and lands by virtue of native title shall be recognized and
respected. Native title to ancestral domains and lands may be formally recognized or established
through the issuance of corresponding Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) or
Certificate of Ancestral Land Title (CALT) as provided in the Act.
All areas within ancestral domains, whether delineated or not, are presumed to be
communally owned and, pursuant to the indigenous concept of ownership, could not be sold,
disposed nor destroyed.
Areas and resources in the domains are deemed destroyed if on account of the activity
conducted or applied:
a) The area or resource could no longer serve its normal or natural functions; or
b) That the area or resource is used in a manner not consistent with customary laws or
agreements of the indigenous peoples
concerned; or
c) That the area or resource is used or gathered in a wasteful or excessive manner resulting to
irreversible loss or irreparable damage.
Part II. Rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples to Ancestral
Domains
Section 1. Rights of Ownership. ICCs/IPs have rights of ownership over lands, waters,
and natural resources and all improvements made by them at any time within the ancestral
domains/lands. These rights shall include, but not limited to, the right over the fruits, the right to
possess, the right to use, right to consume, right to exclude and right to recover ownership, and
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