Decision
33
G.R. No. 224469
Conceptually, IP rights fall along a spectrum, the cornerstone of
which is their degree of connection to the land: 71 Land is the central
element of their existence. 72 Civil law land titles do not exist in its economic
and social system. The concept of individual land ownership under our civil
law is different and distinct from their rules on land ownership. 73
Thus, normatively, under IPRA:
SECTION 4. Concept of Ancestral Lands/Domains. - Ancestral
lands/domains shall include such concepts of territories which cover not
only the physical environment but the total environment including the
spiritual and cultural bonds to the areas which the ICCs/IPs possess,
occupy and use and to which they have claims of ownership.
And:
SECTION 5. Indigenous Concept of Ownership. - Indigenous
concept of ownership sustains the view that ancestral domains and all
resources found therein shall serve as the material bases of their
cultural integrity.,.. ·
At one end, there are those IP rights which are practices, customs, and
traditions inte1:ral to the distinctive IP culture of the group claiming the
right. 74 The "occupation and use of the land" where the activity is taking
place, however, is not "sufficient to support a claim of title to the land." 75
Nevertheless, these activities receive constitutional protection. 76
In the middle, there are activities which, out of necessity, take place
on land and indeed, might be intimately related to a particular piece of
land. 77 Although a particular indigenous cultural community (ICC) may not
be able to demonstrate title to the land, it may nevertheless have a sitespecific right to engage in a particular activity. 78 Even where an IP right
exists on a tract of land to which the ICC in question does not have title, that
ri1:ht may well be site specific, with the result that it can be exercised only
upon that specific tract of land. 79 For example, if an ICC demonstrates that
hunting on a specific tract of land was an inte1:ral part of their distinctive
culture then, even if the right exists apart from title to that tract of land, the
IP right to hunt is nonetheless defined as, and limited to, the right to hunt on
the specific tract of land.
71
Ahousaht Indian Band and Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), 2009 BCSC 1494 (CanLII),
<http://canlii.ca/t/26fk1>, (last accessed on March 27, 2020); Prof. Mario Victor "Marvic" F, Leonen, "The
Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act: An Overview of its Contents," PHILJA Judicial Journal (2002).
72
Id.
73 Id.
14 Id.
7s Id.
76
Supra note 57.
77
Ahousaht Indian Band and Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), supra.
1s Id.
19 Id.
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