108 In defense of land rights: A monitoring report on land conflicts in six Asian countries Conceptual framework Conflict in this study is defined as “a situation wherein two or more stakeholders compete for control over resources, decision-making and truth.” More specifically, this study looks into land and resource conflicts, which is defined as a “situation where two or more stakeholders compete for control over the use, decision-making, and transfer of land and resource rights.” Land and resource conflicts threaten the enjoyment of tenure rights of stakeholders particularly those with less power, such as rural poor communities. Some land conflicts hinder the transfer of land rights, others deny the full range all land rights, while still others reduce rights to lower levels of enjoyment. Use rights enable a rights holder to have access to land, extract resources from the land, and exploit resources for economic purposes. Decision-making rights empower a rights holder to plan the future uses of land and to control the entry of people into the land. Finally, transfer rights enable a rights holder to relinquish and pass the rights on said land and natural resources through lease/rental, bequeathment and/or sale. These land rights are not absolute, and are inter-related in a continuum. In the Philippines, there are a number of tenure instruments issued by the government. The table on page 109 shows various Philippine tenure instruments relevant to this study, plotted against the continuum of land rights. THE NATURE OF CONFLICT ANGOC The interaction of stakeholders determines how a conflict situation unfolds through time. All conflicts start as latent conflict – “a situation wherein stakeholders are unaware or are aware, but not taking action on how their aspirations, goals and interests are competing over resources, decision-making and/or truth.” When stakeholders become aware of a conflict situation, they can choose from a wide range of responses. Inaction and withdrawal make the conflict stay latent, while the pursuit of integrative solutions and compromise provides space for issues to be addressed peacefully. One form of peaceful response that facilitates an integrative solution or compromise is the use of a third party facilitator or “an individual, group or entity that has authority and is respected by stakeholders in a conflict situation, tasked to facilitate the de-escalation of the conflict situation and to seek an integrative solution or compromise.” When third party facilitators are unavailable, or when stakeholders are not able to secure acceptable outcomes from engaging with each other or with third party facilitators, stakeholders may be pushed to engage in violence or