04/02/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly the regular force of the armed forces shall be recruited proportionately from all provinces and cities as far as practicable." [68] Section 6, Article XVI of the Constitution provides: "The State shall establish and maintain one police force, which shall be national in scope and civilian in character, to be administered and controlled by a national police commission. The authority of local executives over the police units in their jurisdiction shall be provided by law." (Emphasis supplied) [69] See note 1. [70] Philippine Daily Inquirer, 27 August http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/ 157044/Respect-our-domain-lumad-tell-Moro-rebs. 2008; see also nation/view/20080827- [71] Section 22, Article II of the Constitution provides: "The State recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural communities within the framework of national unity and development." [72] Section 5, Article XII of the Constitution provides: "The State, subject to the provisions of this Constitution and national development policies and programs, shall protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their economic, social, and cultural well-being. The Congress may provide for the applicability of customary laws governing property rights or relations in determining the ownership and extent of ancestral domain." [73] Section 16 of the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997 (RA No. 8371) provides: "Right to Participate in Decision-Making. -- ICCs/IPs have the right to participate fully, if they so choose, at all levels of decision-making in matters which may affect their rights, lives and destinies through procedures determined by them as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous political structures. Consequently, the State shall ensure that the ICCs/IPs shall be given mandatory representation in policy-making bodies and other local legislative councils." (Emphasis supplied) [74] See note 70; TSN, 29 August 2008, p. 183. [75] Adopted overwhelmingly by the United Nations General Assembly by a vote of 143-5 on 13 September 2007. Those who voted against were the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. [76] Section 10, Article X of the Constitution provides: "No province, city, municipality, or barangay may be created, divided, merged, abolished, or its boundary substantially altered, except in accordance with the criteria established in the Local Government Code and subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite in the political units directly affected." (Emphasis supplied) [77] Justice Vicente V. Mendoza (ret.), The Legal Significance of the MOA on the Bangsamoro Ancestral Domain, lecture delivered at the College of Law, University of elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/47263 116/203