Ancestral domains of indigenous people
under IPRA
After 21 years of IPRA, some 5.4 million hectares, constituting 18 percent of
the total land area of the Philippines, is now recognized as ancestral domains
owned by indigenous peoples. Few other countries in the world can make a
similar claim. Some 221 Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADTs) have been
approved as of 2018. Moreover, given other pending ancestral domain claims
(CADCs) and ongoing applications for CADTs, it is estimated that around 7.5 to
8 million hectares, or a quarter of the country’s land area, could eventually be
recognized as ancestral lands belonging to indigenous people.
However, it remains debatable if the issued titles (CADTs) have enabled
indigenous communities to assert their rights, as the existence of CADTs does not
seem to be respected. In many instances, CADT holders have been constrained
from exercising and enforcing their traditional governance. LGUs continue to
ignore ADSDPPs in their local development planning. CADT areas continue to
be contested by powerful interests on-site, as well as by the entry of investments
(mining and plantations), adversarial land claims, and the continued incursion
of migrants. Some land conflicts have led to violence in which the rural poor,
especially indigenous people, have sustained injuries, deaths and damages to
their homes and livelihoods. CADT areas also overlap significantly with other
tenure regimes, notably national parks and protected areas.
Also, different government agencies have continued to issue titles and tenure
instruments within CADT and CADC areas. In 2012, four government agencies
(DAR, DENR, NCIP and LRA) issued Joint Administrative Order (JAO) 1, series of
2012 that established the mechanisms to prevent and resolve conflicts over
overlapping claims. Yet, land conflicts persisted, as the DAR and DENR did not
stop processing titles and leases within CADC/CADT areas.
Meanwhile, out of the 221 approved CADTs, only 50 are registered with the Land
Registration Authority (LRA). For the processing of new titles, the NCIP needs
to acquire Certificates of Non-Overlap from DAR, DENR and LRA before they
may be able to register the remaining CADTs. This may be next to impossible,
as all CADCs and CADTs have overlapping claims. Different indigenous peoples’
groups have thus demanded the revocation of JAO 1-2012.
Today, indigenous people face new policy issues and threats: (1) the planned
300 new eco-zones by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, which are likely
Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC)
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