Separate Concurring Opinion 9 GR. No. 224469 agencies tasked with issuing this permit. 34 Unfortunately, the prosecution offered no certificatiofl from the DENR to prove that no permit was issued in favor of petitioners. However, it must be clarified that the requirement of negative certification must apply only to situations where indigenous peoples are being accused of cutting trees within their ancestral domain, as in this case. This is because the indigenous peoples own the land covered by their ancestral domain, and the resources found there. In addition, it must be emphasized that under the present legal framework, the State commits to recognize and protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands. In this regard, recent criminal and environmental legislations, such as The Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018, have acknowledged the exercise by the indigenous peoples of their cultural practices and traditions to be an exception from the permit requirement. ' ~ Further, the continuing inclination towards considering these cultural practices as an exception casts reasonable doubt on whether or not petitioners should be held guilty under Presidential Decree No. 705. The preferential application of these later laws is not only in accord with the pro reo principle, but also with the concept of social justice. The ponencia sustained petitioners' argument and decreed that IrayaMangyans have a right, as indigenous peoples, to harvest a dita tree for the communal use of their group. This right constitutes a manifestation of petitioners' right to preserve their cultural integrity35 and an economic manifestation of their right to their ancestral domain and ancestral land. 36 I agree with the ponencia. The Iraya-Mangyans are indigenous peoples publicly known to be residing in Mindoro Island. Specifically, the Iraya-Mangyans occupy certain municipalities in Occidental Mindoro such as: (1) Abra de Ilog; (2) Paluan; (3) Mamburao; (4) and Sta. Cruz. 37 They can also be found in Oriental Mindoro, particularly in the municipalities of Puerto Galera, San Teodoro, and Baco. 38 34 35 36 37 38 People v. Velasco, G.R. No. 231787, August 19, 2019, <https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/shfowdocs/1/65645> [Per J. Caguioa, Second Division]. Ponencia, p. 38. Id. at 41. Portia M. Panegro and Francia C. Bulatao, Claims and Counterclaims in the Mt. Halcon and Mt. Calavite Ranges: The Iraya Peoples' Assertion of Rights to Their Ancestral Domains, 4 7 ATENEO L. J. 624, 626 (2002). Ponencia, p. 9. /