• Most of Coron’s forests are still intact. There has been a noticeable decrease in illegal fishing within the reefs inside their marine territories but the limited capacity of the community to physically enforce their regulations have enabled some unscrupulous individuals to take advantage of the situation. • More importantly, the local tourism industry operators are now required to secure annual permits from the Tagbanua community before they could bring tourists to the island. • The ecological tourism in the island is now under the full management of the Tagbanua. They opened two lakes, Kayangan and Barracuda Lakes, to visitors and enforced a new set of regulations to maintain the cleanliness and sacredness of the lakes and to minimize the disturbance to the diverse plants and animals living in the lakes and the surrounding forest. They have also developed a system of distributing social benefits to the community from the income of their local tourism. The success of the Tagbanua in securing tenure over their traditional territories has inspired 11 other Tagbanua communities to file claims over their territories. Furthermore, the CADT has provided the Tagbanua of Coron the wherewithal to be respected and be at par with other stakeholders in the area. This new arrangement will go a long way in enabling the Tagbanua to pursue their identified development and conservation priorities. New Challenges to and Reflections on Indigenous Governance of Ancestral Domains YEAR 1982 · · The enterprise demands a new set of entrepreneurial skills which they have to balance with acquiring skills through training, strengthening of cultural values and traditional management of the elders. As the tourism industry grows especially in Mainland Busuanga and Coron, more garbage will be produced and cause pollution in the pristine marine waters and lakes of Coron Island. There are community members who are questioning the state of finances and income of The Integrated Social Forestry Program of the DENR offered stewardship lease agreements to community organizations through the Certificate of Forestry Stewardship Agreement (CFSA). Actions Taken by the Tagbanua · · · · 1990 SEP. The Strategic Environmental Plan for Palawan of 1992 or RA 7611 was enacted. This law expanded the definition of ancestral domain to include coastal zones and other submerged areas. 1992 1993 The management, however, of the Tagbanua Ecotourism Enterprise from which they earn millions of pesos every year is confronting them with new challenges and deep reflections on the very fiber of their culture, the state of indigenous governance, and the impact of the enterprise on their social and natural environment. · Gov’t Policy/Program and Tenure Instrument 1997 2002 NIPAS. The National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 or RA 7685 was enacted. Coron Island was listed as part of the Priority Protected Area. This law created the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) which would be responsible for the management of protected areas. The Tagbanua of Coron Island started organizing and formed the Tagbanua Foundation of Coron Island (TFCI). TFCI applied for a CFSA covering 7,748 ha of their ancestral lands to the DENR in 1985. The CFSA was approved, covering the whole island of Coron and a small neighboring island, Delian. Clan caves where they harvest the edible bird’s nest of the balinsasayaw were returned to the ownership of the Tagbanua. · TFCI used this act to expand their claim to include their traditional fishing grounds, fish sanctuaries, and diving areas. They began preparing their own management plan, which included these areas. · TFCI officially demanded that the Island be stricken off as a protected area and removed from the target sites under the NIPAS. The TFCI declared instead that the Coron Island is an ancestral domain conserved by the Tagbanua themselves and managed by its own elders. · Department Administrative Order No. 2 of the DENR was implemented. This law provided for a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) which offered a more secure recognition of ancestral domains. · IPRA. The Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997 was enacted. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) was created as implementing agency. This law allowed the granting of collective and individual rights to land to indigenous peoples through certificates of ancestral domain and land titles. · Administrative Order No. 1 was issued by the NCIP to establish with finality the validity of the CADT as approved by the First Commission. · · · · The TFCI applied for a CADC to pursue their claim not only to their island but to include as well their ancestral waters. TFCI initiated the establishment of SARAGPUNTA, a bigger organization which included the Tagbanua from the other islands in the Calamianes. The CADC was granted in June 1998 covering 24,520 ha of ancestral land and marine waters, the first its kind in the country. TFCI organized workshops to complete their Ancestral Domain Management Plan. Customary laws were codified and included in the management plan. The TFCI applied for a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) under the IPRA with the NCIP in 1998. The Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title was approved. This is the first ancestral domain title in the world which includes both land and marine territories. Lok Niti 109