:-·· .,. 1===---::n=_~.......,...._·-="·.'''""'~-..-·--· ·=".........J === ···· ""=c"=o~=·--~·~~--~--~--"~~·-~·"•••·~~ During the August 18, 2016 focus group discussion, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) said that there are 57 certification precondition (16% of the total) issued for forestry related projects and agro-industrial projects, mostly palm oil plantations as of January 2016. The process starts after the concerned government agency forW-ards the application to the NCIP to verify if the project will be located on an ancestral domain (AD). Thereafter, the application is forwarded to the NCIP Regional Office that oversees the area. The regional director (RD) will form the Field Based Investigation (FBI) Team. They will conduct a conference together with the IP community, IP elders, and the applicant. If after the field investigation, the FBI Team finds out that the area is not within AD, they make a report and recommend for the issuance of a Certificate of NonOverlap (CNO). However, if the land is within the AD, the FBI Team recommends for the undertaking of the FPIC process. The applicant will be informed and Pre-FPIC Conference will follow through. During the Pre-FPIC Conference, the FBI Team will prepare the Work and Financial Plan (WFP). Questions will be clarified during the Pre-FPIC Conference. It is during the first community assembly when the IP elders and leaders will be identified or recognized. A discussion of their rights will then be made. During the second community assembly, the applicant presents the project to the community. The IPs thereafter conduct their own activity, such as consensus building. They are given enough time to discuss the pros and cons of the project, before deciding whether or not to allow it. If the project is not allowed, the IPs will issue the Resolution of No Consent (RNC). The Proponent will be given the copy of the Resolution, and he will be given the chance to request for reconsideration. If the project is approved, the IPs will issue the Resolution of Consent (ROC). Negotiations begin, which may eventually lead to the execution of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that would be signed by the IP leaders, NCIP and the proponent. The proponent shoulders all the costs appurtenant to the FPIC process. Documents will be processed and forwarded to the Regional Review Team (RRT). They are tasked to review all the documents. The regional director (RD) endorses the documents to Ancestral Domain Office (ADO) in the NCIP Central Office. The MOA signed by the parties will be forwarded to the Legal Affairs Office (LAO), which presents copied thereof to the NCIP Commission En Bane (CEB) for approval. If approved, a Certificate of Precondition (CP) will be issued. A copy of the Certificate will be given to the endorsing government agency. R.A. No. 6657, as amended by R.A. No. 9700, provides that ancestral domains and lands are excluded from CARP coverage. More so, R.A. No. 8371 (IPRA), Section 52 (i) provides the process of delineation of ancestral domains and lands, as follows: "The Chairperson of the NCIP shall certify that the area covered is an ancestral domain. The secretaries of the Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and Department of Justice, the Commissioner of the National Development Corporation and any other government agency claiming jurisdiction over the area shall be notified thereof. Such notification shall terminate any legal basis for the jurisdiction previously claimed." As such, agribusiness ventures in ancestral lands are not pursued within the framework of agrarian reform. Significantly, DAR suggests that CARP lands cover only 25% of lands under agribusiness. The remaining 75% are comprised of other legal regimes, pertaining to the IPs and other claimants of public land. 23