2. The Local Government Code (RA 7160) of 1991 Republic Act 7160 defines the nature, coverage and the regulatory functions of the LGU in the governance and management of coverage of “municipal waters.” Moreover, RA 7160 also provides the rules for fishery rentals, fees and charges and provides the mandate to the Local Government Unit to have the “exclusive authority” to grant such fishery privileges and impose and collect fees thereof. 3. RA 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 Passed in 1997, the IPRA defines the nature and coverage of Ancestral Domains of Indigenous Communities. Under SECTION 3. Definition of Terms of IPRA, ‘ancestral domains’ refer to “all areas, generally belonging to ICCs/IPs comprising land water, coastal areas, and natural resources therein.” IPRA provides the legal basis for the inclusion of “ancestral waters” in the filing of Ancestral Domains Claims. 4. Republic Act 7611 or the Strategic Environment Plan for Palawan (SEP) A special law enacted in 1992 to provide an over-all blueprint for the conservation and management of the province of Palawan. The SEP law pursues the “sustainable development of the province of Palawan” by adopting a zoning scheme called the Environmentally Critical Areas Network or ECAN as its main strategy. Section 7 defines the ECAN as “ “… a graded system of protection and development control over the whole of Palawan, including its tribal lands, forests, mines, agricultural areas, settlement areas, small islands, mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds and the surrounding sea.” The SEP identifies “tribal ancestral lands” as one of the three main components of the ECAN5 and defines “tribal ancestral lands” in Section 3 as “… areas comprising both land and sea that are traditionally occupied by the cultural minorities.” The SEP in Sec. 11 underlines the primacy of cultural criteria in zoning “tribal ancestral lands.” 5. Indigenous Resource Management Rules and Mechanisms The role of the elders and parents are highly valued and respected in the Tagbanwa society. The mepet (elders) are traditionally consulted on matters affecting the clans and on important issues affecting communities. It was the mepet who prescribed sanctions and meted out penalties for infractions against customary laws, prescriptions that were handed down orally from one generation to the next. The mepet settled disputes on ancestral lands and set the rules for resource extraction. Hence, in the past, the mepet were held in high regard for their knowledge of customary laws and played important roles in decision-making for the community. 3