Decision
10
G.R. No. 221139
same indigenous cultural communities as the exclusive objects of the
application of customary laws and practices.
As such, Chapter IX is a means to effect the overarching right of
indigenous peoples to self-governance and empowerment, as spelled out in
Chapter IV.
In turn, the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act's provisions on selfgovernance and empowerment, 44 along with those on the right to ancestral
domains, 45 social justice and human rights, 46 and cultural integrity, 47
collectively reflect and bring to fruition the 1987 Constitution's aims of
preservation.
The 1987 Constitution devotes six (6) provisions "which insure the
right of tribal Filipinos to preserve their way of life" :48
ARTICLE II
Declaration of Principles and State Policies
SECTION 22. The State recognizes and promotes the rights of
indigenous cultural communities within the framework of national unity
and development.
ARTICLE VI
The Legislative Department
SECTION 5.
(2)
The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per
centum of the total number of representatives including those under the
party list. For three consecutive terms after the ratification of this
Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to party-list representatives
shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or election from the labor,
peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and
such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious
sector. 49
44
45
46
47
48
49
Rep. Act No. 83 71 (1997), ch. IV.
Rep. Act No. 8371 (1997), ch. III.
Rep. Act No. 8371 (1997), ch. V.
Rep. Act No. 83 71 ( 1997), ch. VI.
J. Puno, Separate Opinion in Cruz v. Secretmy of Environment and Natural Resources, 400 Phil. 904,
960 (2000) [Per Curiam, En Banc].
Const. Art. VI, sec. 5.
I