Decision
G.R. No. 224469
42
2. Establish and activate indigenous practices or culturally-founded
strategies to protect, conserve and develop the natural resources and
wildlife sanctuaries in the domain;
3. Restore, preserve and maintain a bal~nced ecology in the ancestral
domain by protecting flora, fauna, watershed areas, and other forest and
mineral reserves;
4. Protect and conserve forest trees and other vegetation naturally growing
on the land specially along rivers, streams and channels;
5. Preservation of natural features of the domain. 108
A CADC affirms practically the same rights as those recognized in
the IPRA as incidents of IP title. As possessors of a CADC, the IrayaMangyan IPs, including herein accused, have been confirmed to have the
right to the exclusive communal use and occupation of the ancestral
domain covering a designated territory within the municipality of San
Teodoro for a variety of purposes, including limited non-traditional purposes
and the right to enjoy its economic fruits.
There are however, as stated, clear limitations to these rights - the
exclusive uses of the ancestral domain should be consistent with the
communal and ongoing nature of the IPs' attachment to the ancestral
domain, the preservation of the IPs' cultural integrity, and the ability of
future generations to benefit from it. These limitations can be inferred from
the IPs' responsibility above-mentioned to "[e]stablish and activate
indigenous practices or culturally-founded strategies to protect, conserve
and develop the natural resources and wildlife sanctuaries in the domain,"
together with IPRA's indigenous concept of ownership that "ancestral
domains and all resources.found therein shall serve as the material bases of
their cultural integrity" and that ancestral domains are private but community
property which belongs to all generations.
While ownership itself is not a defense to a prosecution for violation
of Section 77, PD 705 as amended, as police power invariably trumps
ownership, the subject IP rights are not themselves the same as the
ownership proscribed as a defense in this type of offense. The IP rights are
to preserve their cultural integrity, primordially a social and cultural and also
a collective right.
.
~
On the other hand, the claim or title to ancestral domains and land is
sui generis ownership that is curiously identical to the purpose for which
Section 77 as a police power measure was legislated - the protection and
promotion of a healthy and clean ecology and environment through
sustainable use of timber and other forest products.
Thus, the purpose for requiring State authority before one may cut and
collect timber is claimed to have been satisfied by the sui ,?eneris ownership
which IPs possess. This parallelism all the more supports our conclusion
108
DENR AO No. 02-93, Rules and Regulations for the Identification, Delineation and Recognition of
Ancestral Land and Domain Claims.
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