Decision
34
G.R. No. 224469
At the other end of the spectrum, tliere ~is the IP title itself. 80 IP title
confers more than the right to engage in site-specific activities which are
aspects of the practices, customs, and traditions of distinctive IP cultures. 81
IP site-specific rights can be made out even if IP title cannot; what IP title
confers is the right to the land itself. 82
iii. IP right to preserve cultural
integrity
as
a free-standing
right
independent of IP claim or title to ancestral
domains or lands
An IP right to preserve cultural integrity is manifested through an
activity that is an element of a practice, custom, or tradition that is integral
to the distinctive culture of the IPs claiming the right. This requires
establishing the existence of the ancestral practice, custom, or tradition
advanced as supporting the claimed right; cQnfirming that the ancestral
practices, customs, or traditions were integral to the distinctive culture of
the claimant's pre-contact in Philippine society, i.e., prior to contact with
colonizers and non-IP Filipinos, or subsequent thereto, to the survival of the
distinctive culture of the claimant's ICC in Philippine society; and proving
that reasonable continuity exists between the pre-contact practice, or postcontact practice for the claimant's ICC's survival, and the contemporary
claim.
An IP right to preserve cultural integrity entitles the right holder to
perform the practice or custom or tradition in its present form. This means
that the same sort of activity is carried on in the modern economy by
modern means. To illustrate, the right to harvest wood for the construction
of temporary shelters must be allowed to evolve into a right to harvest
wood by modern means to be used in the construction of modern dwellin,:s.
Here, petitioners strongly claim that their IP right to preserve cultural
integrity entitled them to log the dita tree for building the communal toilet as
a lawful exercise and manifestation of this IP right. As shown, this claim did
not just come from thin air but from the bundle of their real constitutional and
statutory right to cultural heritage.
iv. IP right to preserve cultural
integrity in relation to or as a manifestation
of IP claim or title to ancestral domains and
lands
An IP title encompasses the right to exclusive use and occupation of
the land held pursuant to that title for a variety of purposes including non80
Id.
81
Id.
Id.
82
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