established to oversee the resolution of the land issues raised by the “savages” or the non-Christian population. The BNCT took the lead in determining areas suitable for establishing non-Christian reservations whose extents were usually smaller in area than the actual ancestral domains of the indigenous community and did not include the hunting grounds and other communally owned and managed areas of the indigenous community. Little is known or documented regarding the participation of the indigenous communities in the establishment of reservations. The advent of tenure reforms. Following the Second World War, the rising demand for resources exacted its toll on the Philippines as large-scale logging increased in order to meet the demand for timber in Japan and the United States of America. This had a devastating impact on indigenous communities who were dependent on forest resources. The Philippines lost some 9.8 million hectares of its forests from 1934 to 1988. (Liu, et. al., 1993) Roads opened by logging concessions led to the entry of migrants into the ancestral domains of indigenous communities. And as logging and encroachment reached alarming levels, indigenous communities began to agitate for land tenure reform. Ikalahan Memorandum of Agreement No. 01 (1974). The Ikalahan communities of Imugan, Unib, Baracbac and Malico were the pioneers in the struggle to gain legal recognition and land tenure security over their ancestral lands in the Philippines. In 1974, they successfully negotiated for Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) No. 01, which legally recognized them as the stewards and managers of some 16,500 hectares of forested land. Ikalahan communities gained exclusive access to the area, although primary governance was still exercised by the government. Provisions in the MOA included the recognition of traditional land allocation, and decriminalization of the harvesting of forest resources for as long as these are for internal and individual use. This landmark agreement ushered in a new paradigm shift in defining policy for the traditional rights of indigenous peoples in public domains. The agreement had a term limit of 25 years, renewable at the option of both parties. Integrated Forestry Program or LOI 1248. The government later began to acknowledge the role of local people in the management and protection of forestlands and resources. Letter of Instruction 1260 issued in 1982 by then President Marcos, created the ISFP. The ISFP granted stewardship agreements to qualified individuals and communities allowing them to continue occupation (access rights) and cultivation of upland areas (use and management rights), which in turn required them to protect and reforest the area. The program provided security of tenure for a period of 25 years, renewable for another 25 Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) 77