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EspañolPhilippines -- Isagani Cruz and Cesar Europa v. Sec. of Environment and Natural Resources, et al.
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Republic of the Philippines
Supreme Court
Manila
EN BANC
ISAGANI CRUZ and CESAR G.R. No. 135385
EUROPA,
Petitioners, Present:
DAVIDE, JR., C.J.,
BELLOSILLO,
MELO,
-versus- PUNO,
VITUG,
KAPUNAN,
MENDOZA,
PANGANIBAN,
QUISUMBING,
SECRETARY OF ENVIRONMENT PARDO,
AND NATURAL RESOURCES, BUENA,
SECRETARY OF BUDGET AND GONZAGA-REYES,
MANAGEMENT and CHAIRMAN SANTIAGO, and
and COMMISSIONERS OF THE DE LEON, JJ.
NATIONAL COMMISSION ON
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES. Promulgated:
Respondents.
x------------------------------------------------x December 6, 2000
HON. JUAN M. FLAVIER, HON.
PONCIANO BENNAGEN,
BAYANI ASCARRAGA, EDTAMI
MANSAYANGAN, BASILIO
WANDAG, EVELYN DUNUAN,
YAOM TUGAS, ALFREMO
CARPIANO, LIBERATO A. GABIN,
MATERNIDAD M. COLAS,
NARCISA M. DALUPINES, BAI
KIRAM-CONNIE SATURNO, BAE
MALOMO-BEATRIZ T. ABASALA,
DATU BALITUNGTUNG-ANTONIO
D. LUMANDONG, DATU
MANTUMUKAW TEOFISTO
SABASALES, DATU EDUARDO
BANDA, DATU JOEL UNAD, DATU
RAMON BAYAAN, TIMUAY JOSE
ANOY, TIMUAY MACARIO D.
SALACAO, TIMUAY EDWIN B.
ENDING, DATU SAHAMPONG
MALANAW VI, DATU BEN
PENDAO CABIGON, BAI
NANAPNAY-LIZA SAWAY, BAI
INAY DAYA-MELINDA S.
REYMUNDO, BAI TINANGHAGA
HELINITA T. PANGAN, DATU
MAKAPUKAW ADOLINO L.
SAWAY, DATU MAUDAYAW-
CRISPEN SAWAY, VICKY
MAKAY, LOURDES D. AMOS,
GILBERT P. HOGGANG, TERESA
GASPAR, MANUEL S. ONALAN,
MIA GRACE L. GIRON, ROSEMARIE
G. PE, BENITO CARINO, JOSEPH
JUDE CARANTES, LYNETTE
CARANTES-VIVAL, LANGLEY
SEGUNDO, SATUR S. BUGNAY,
CARLING DOMULOT,
ANDRES MENDIOGRIN, LEOPOLDO
ABUGAN, VIRGILIO CAYETANO,
CONCHITA G. DESCAGA, LEVY
ESTEVES, ODETTE G. ESTEVEZ,
RODOLFO C. AGUILAR, MAURO
VALONES, PEPE H. ATONG,
OFELIA T. DAVI, PERFECTO B.
GUINOSAO, WALTER N. TIMOL,
MANUEL T. SELEN, OSCAR
DALUNHAY, RICO O. SULATAN,
RAFFY MALINDA, ALFREDO
ABILLANOS, JESSIE ANDILAB,
MIRLANDO H. MANKULINTAS,
SAMIE SATURNO, ROMEO A.
LINDAHAY, ROEL S. MANSANG-
CAGAN, PAQUITO S. LIESES,
FILIPE G. SAWAY, HERMINIA
S. SAWAY, JULIUS S. SAWAY,
LEONARDA SAWAY, JIMMY
UGYUB, SALVADOR TIONGSON,
VENANCIO APANG, MADION
MALID, SUKIM MALID, NENENG
MALID, MANGKATADONG
AUGUSTO DIANO, JOSEPHINE
M. ALBESO, MORENO MALID,
MARIO MANGCAL, FELAY
DIAMILING, SALOME P. SARZA,
FELIPE P. BAGON, SAMMY
SALNUNGAN, ANTONIO D.
EMBA, NORMA MAPANSA
GONOS, ROMEO SALIGA, SR.,
JERSON P. GERADA, RENATO
T. BAGON, JR., SARING
MASALONG, SOLEDAD M.
GERARDA, ELIZABETH L.
MENDI, MORANTE S. TIWAN,
DANILO M. MALUDAO, MINORS
MARICEL MALID, represented
by her father CORNELIO MALID,
MARCELINO M. LADRA, repre-
sented by her father MONICO D.
LADRA, JENNYLYN MALID, rep-
Resented by her father TONY
MALID, ARIEL M. EVANGELISTA,
Represented by her mother LINAY
BALBUENA, EDWARD M. EMUY,
SR., SUSAN BOLANIO, OND,
PULA BATO B’LAAN TRIBAL
FARMER’S ASSOCIATION, INTER-
PEOPLE’S EXCHANGE, INC. and
GREEN FORUM-WESTERN
VISAYAS.
Intervenors.
x-------------------------------------------------x
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS,
Intervenor.
x-------------------------------------------------x
IKALAHAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
and HARIBON FOUNDATION FOR
THE CONSERVATION OF NATURAL
RESOURCES, INC.
Intervenor.
x-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------x
RESOLUTION
Per Curiam:
Petitioners Isagani Cruz and Cesar Europa brought this suit for prohibition and mandamus as citizens and taxpayers, assailing the constitutionality of certain provisions of Republic Act No. 8371 (R.A. 8371), otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA), and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (Implementing Rules).
In its resolution of September 29, 1998, the Court required respondents to comment. In compliance, respondents Chairperson and Commissioners of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the government agency created under the IPRA to implement its provisions, filed on October 13, 1998 their Comment to the Petition, in which they defend the constitutionality of the IPRA and pray that the petition be dismissed for lack of merit.
On October 19, 1998, respondents Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) filed through the Solicitor General a consolidated Comment. The Solicitor General is of the view that the IPRA is partly unconstitutional on the ground that it grants ownership over natural resources to indigenous peoples and prays that the petition be granted in part.
On November 10, 1998, a group of intervenors, composed of Sen. Juan Flavier, one of the authors of the IPRA, Mr. Ponciano Bennagen, a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, and the leaders and members of 112 groups of indigenous peoples (Flavier, et. Al), filed their Motion for Leave to Intervene. They join the NCIP in defending the constitutionality of IPRA and praying for the dismissal of the petition.
On March 22, 1999, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) likewise filed a Motion to Intervene and/or to Appear as Amicus Curiae. The CHR asserts that IPRA is an expression of the principle of parens patriae and that the State has the responsibility to protect and guarantee the rights of those who are at a serious disadvantage like indigenous peoples. For this reason it prays that the petition be dismissed.
On March 23, 1999, another group, composed of the Ikalahan Indigenous People and the Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources, Inc. (Haribon, et al.), filed a Motion to Intervene with attached Comment-in-Intervention. They agree with the NCIP and Flavier, et al. that IPRA is consistent with the Constitution and pray that the petition for prohibition and mandamus be dismissed.
The motions for intervention of the aforesaid groups and organizations were granted.
Oral arguments were heard on April 13, 1999. Thereafter, the parties and intervenors filed their respective memoranda in which they reiterate the arguments adduced in their earlier pleadings and during the hearing.
Petitioners assail the constitutionally of the following provisions of the IPRA and its Implementing Rules on the ground that they amount to an unlawful deprivation of the State’s ownership over lands of the public domain as well as minerals and other natural resources therein, in violation of the regalian doctrine embodied in Section 2, Article XII of the Constitution:
“(1) Section 3(a) which defines the extent and coverage of ancestral domains, and Section 3(b) which, in turn, defines ancestral lands;
“(2) Section 5, in relation to section 3(a), which provides that ancestral domains including inalienable public lands, bodies of water, mineral and other resources found within ancestral domains are private but community property of the indigenous peoples;
“(3) Section 6 in relation to Section 3(a) and 3(b) which defines the composition of ancestral domains and ancestral lands;
“(4) Section 7 which recognizes and enumerates the rights of the indigenous peoples over the ancestral domains;
“(5) Section 8 which recognizes and enumerates the rights of the indigenous peoples over the ancestral lands;
“(6) Section 57 which provides for priority rights of the indigenous peoples in the harvesting, extraction, development or exploration of minerals and other natural resources within the areas claimed to be their ancestral domains, and the right to enter into agreements with nonindigenous peoples for the development and utilization of natural resources therein for a period not exceeding 25 years, renewable for not more than 25 years; and
“(7) Section 58 which gives the indigenous peoples the responsibility to maintain, develop, protect and conserve the ancestral domains and portions thereof which are found to be necessary for critical watersheds, mangroves, wildlife sanctuaries, wilderness, protected areas, forest cover or reforestation.
Petitioners also contend that, by providing for an all encompassing definition of “ancestral domains” and “ancestral lands” which might even include private lands found within said areas, Sections 3(a) and 3(b) violate the rights of private landowners.
In addition, petitioners question the provisions of the IPRA defining the powers and jurisdiction of the NICP and making customary law applicable to the settlement of disputes involving ancestral domains and ancestral lands on the ground that these provisions violate the due process clause of the Constitution.
These provisions are:
“(1) Sections 51 to 53 and 59 which detail the process of delineation and recognition of ancestral domains and which vest on the NCIP the sole authority to delineate ancestral domains and ancestral lands;
“(2) Section 52[i] which provides that upon certification by the NICP that a particular area is an ancestral domain and upon notification to the following officials, namely, the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Secretary of Interior and Local Governments, Secretary of Justice and Commissioner of the National Development Corporation, the jurisdiction of said officials over said area terminates;
“(3) Section 63 which provides the customary law, traditions and practices of indigenous peoples shall be applied first with respect to property rights, claims of ownership, hereditary succession and settlement of land disputes, and that any doubt or ambiguity in the interpretation thereof shall be resolved in favor of the indigenous peoples;
“(4) Section 65 which states that customary laws and practices shall be used to resolve disputes involving indigenous peoples; and
“(5) Section 66 which vests on the NCIP the jurisdiction over all claims and disputes involving rights of the indigenous peoples.
Finally, petitioners assail the validity of Rule VII, Part II, Section 1 of the NICP Administrative Order No. 1, series of 1998, which provides that “the administrative relationship of the NICP to the Office of the President is characterized as a lateral but autonomous relationship for purposes of policy and program coordination.” They contend that said Rule infringes upon the President’s power of control over executive departments under Section 17, Article VII of the Constitution.
Petitioners pray for the following:
“(1) A declaration that Sections 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 52[i], 57, 58, 59, 63, 65 and 66 and other related provisions of R.A. 8371 are unconstitutional and invalid;
“(2) The issuance of a writ of prohibition directing the Chairperson and Commissioners of the NICP to cease and desist from implementing the assailed provisions of R.A. 8371 and its Implementing Rules;
“(3) The issuance of a writ of prohibition directing the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to cease the desist from implementing Department of Environment and Natural Resources Circular No. 2, series of 1998;
“(4) The issuance of a writ of prohibition directing the Secretary of Budget and Management to cease and desist from disbursing public funds for the implementation of the assailed provisions of R.A. 8371; and
“(5) The issuance of a writ of mandamus commanding the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources to comply with his duty of carrying out the State’s constitutional mandate to control and supervise the exploration, development, utilization and conservation of Philippine natural resources.”
After due deliberation on the petition, the members of the Court voted as follows:
Seven (7) voted to dismiss the petition. Justice Kapunan filed an opinion, which the Chief Justice and Justices Bellosillo, Quisumbing, and Santiago join, sustaining the validity of the challenged provisions of R.A. 8371. Justice Puno also filed a separate opinion sustaining all challenged provisions of the law with the exception of Section 1, Part II, Rule III of NCIP Administrative Order No. 1, series of 1998, the Rules and Regulations Implementing the IPRA, and Section 57 of the IPRA which he contends should be interpreted as dealing with the large-scale exploitation of natural resources and should be read in conjunction with Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution. On the other hand, Justice Mendoza voted to dismiss the petition solely on the ground that it does not raise a justiciable controversy and petitioners do not have standing to question the constitutionality of R.A. 8371.
Seven (7) other members of the Court voted to grant the petition. Justice Panganiban filed a separate opinion expressing the view that Sections 3 (a)(b), 5, 6, 7 (a)(b), 8, and related provisions of R.A. 8371 are unconstitutional. He reserves judgment on the constitutionality of Sections 58, 59, 65, and 66 of the law, which he believes must await the filing of specific cases by those whose rights may have been violated by the IPRA. Justice Vitug also filed a separate opinion expressing the view that Sections 3(a), 7, and 57 of R.A. 8371 are unconstitutional. Justice Melo, Pardo, Buena, Gonzaga-Reyes, and De Leon join in the separate opinions of Justices Panganiban and Vitug.
As the votes were equally divided (7 to 7) and the necessary majority was not obtained, the case was redeliberated upon. However, after redeliberation, the voting remained the same. Accordingly, pursuant to Rule 56, Section 7 of the Rules of Civil Procedure, the petition is DISMISSED.
Attached hereto and made integral parts thereof are the separate opinions of Justices Puno, Vitug, Kapunan, Mendoza, and Panganiban.
SO ORDERED.
HILARIO G. DAVIDE, JR.
Chief Justice
JOSUE N. BELLOSILLO JOSE A. R. MELO
Associate Justice Associate Justice
REYNATO S. PUNO JOSE C. VITUG
Associate Justice Associate Justice
SANTIAGO M. KAPUNAN VICENTE V. MENDOZA
Associate Justice Associate Justice
ARTEMIO V. PANGANIBAN LEONARDO A. QUISUMBING
Associate Justice Associate Justice
BERNARDO P. PARDO ARTURO B. BUENA
Associate Justice Associate Justice
MINERVA P. GONZAGA-REYES CONSUELO YNARES-SANTIAGO
Associate Justice Associate Justice
SABINO R. DE LEON, JR.
Associate Justice
CERTIFICATION
Pursuant to Section 13, Article VIII of the Constitution, it is hereby certified that the conclusions in the above Resolution were reached in consultation before the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Court.
HILARIO G. DAVIDE, JR.
Chief Justice
G.R. No. 135385 – ISAGANI A. CRUZ and CESAR S. EUROPA VS. SECRETARY OF
ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES, SECRETARY OF BUDGET AND MANAGEMENT, AND THE CHAIR AND COMMISSION OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Promulgated:
DECEMBER 6, 2000
x------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------x
SEPARATE OPINION
PUNO, J.:
PRECIS
A classic essay on the utility of history was written in 1874 by Friedrich Nietzsche entitled “On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life.” Expounding on Nietzsche’s essay, Judge Richard Posner1 wrote:
“Law is the most historically oriented, or if you like the most backward-looking, the most ‘past-dependent,’ of the professions. It venerates tradition, precedent, pedigree, ritual, custom, ancient practices, ancient texts, archaic terminology, maturity, wisdom, seniority, gerontocracy, and interpretation conceived of as a method of recovering history. It is suspicious of innovation, discontinuities, ‘paradigm shifts,’ and the energy and brashness of youth. These ingrained attitudes are obstacles to anyone who wants to re-orient law in a more pragmatic direction. But, by the same token, pragmatic jurisprudence must come to terms with history.”
When Congress enacted the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), it introduced radical concepts into the Philippine legal system which appear to collide with settled constitutional and jural precepts on state ownership of land and other natural resources. The sense and subtleties of this law cannot be appreciated without considering its distinct sociology and the labyrinths of its history. This Opinion attempts to interpret IPRA by discovering its soul shrouded by the mist of our history. After all, the IPRA was enacted by Congress not only to fulfill the constitutional mandate of protecting the indigenous cultural communities right to their ancestral land but more importantly, to correct a grave historical injustice to our indigenous people.
This Opinion discusses the following:
I. The Development of the Regalian Doctrine in the Philippine Legal System.
A. The Laws of the Indies
B. Valenton v. Murciano
C. The Public Land Acts and the Torrens System
D. The Philippine Constitutions
II. The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA).
A. Indigenous Peoples
1. Indigenous Peoples: Their History
2. Their Concept of Land
III. The IPRA is a Novel Piece of Legislation.
A. Legislative History
IV. The Provisions of the IPRA Do Not Contravene the Constitution.
A. Ancestral domains and ancestral lands are the private property of indigenous peoples and do not constitute part of the land of the public domain.
1. The right to ancestral domains and ancestral lands: how acquired
2. The concept of native title
(a) Cariño v. Insular Government
(b) Indian Title to land
(c) Why the Cariño doctrine is unique
3. The option of securing a torrens title to the ancestral land
B. The right of ownership and possession by the ICCs/Ips to their ancestral domains is a limited form of ownership and does not include the right to alienate the same.
1. The indigenous concept of ownership and customary law
C. Sections 7 (a), 7 (b) and 57 of the IPRA do not violate the Regalian Doctrine Enshrined in Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution.
1. The rights of ICCs/IPs over their ancestral domains and lands
2. The right of ICCs/IPs to develop lands and natural resources within the ancestral domains does not deprive the State of ownership over the natural resources, control and supervision in their development and exploitation.
(a) Section 1, Part II, Rule III of the Implementing Rules goes beyond the parameters of Section 7(a) of the law on ownership of ancestral domains and is ultra vires.
(b) The small-scale utilization of natural resources in Section 7(b) of the IPRA is allowed under Paragraph 3, Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution.
(c) The large-scale utilization of natural resources in Section 57 of the IPRA may be harmonized with Paragraphs 1 and 4, Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution.
V. The IPRA is a Recognition of Our Active Participation in the International Indigenous Movement.
DISCUSSION
I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REGALIAN DOCTRINE IN THE PHILIPPINE LEGAL SYSTEM
A. The Laws of the Indies
The capacity of the State to own or acquire property is the state’s power of dominium.3
This was the foundation for the early Spanish decrees embracing the feudal theory of jura regalia. The “Regalian Doctrine” or jura regalia is a Western legal concept that was first introduced by the Spaniards into the country through the Laws of the Indies and the Royal Cedulas. The Laws of the Indies, i.e., more specifically, Law 14, Title 12, Book 4 of the Novisima Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias, set the policy of the Spanish Crown with respect to the Philippine Islands in the following manner:
“We, having acquired full sovereignty over the Indies, and all lands, territories, and possessions not heretofore ceded away by our royal predecessors, or by us, or in our name, still pertaining to the royal crown and patrimony, it is our will that all lands which are held without proper and true deeds of grant be restored to us as they belong to us, in order that after reserving before all what to us or to our viceroys, audiencias, and governors may seem necessary for public squares, ways, pastures, and commons in those places which are peopled, taking into consideration not only their present condition, but also their future and their probable increase, and after distributing to the natives what may be necessary for tillage and pasturage, confirming them in what they now have and giving them more if necessary, all the reset of said lands may remain free and unencumbered for us to dispose of as we may wish.
We therefore order and command that all viceroys and presidents of pretorial courts designate at such time as shall to them seem most expedient, a suitable period within which all possessors of tracts, farms, plantations, and estates shall exhibit to them and to the court officers appointed by them for this purpose, their title deeds thereto. And those who are in possession by virtue of proper deeds and receipts, or by virtue of just prescriptive right shall be protected, and all the rest shall be restored to us to be disposed of at our will.”4
The Philippines passed to Spain by virtue of “discovery” and conquest. Consequently, all lands became the exclusive patrimony and dominion of the Spanish Crown. The Spanish Government took charge of distributing the lands by issuing g royal grants and concessions to Spaniards, both military and civilian.5 Private land titles could only be acquired from the government either by
purchase or by the various modes of land grant from the Crown. 6
The Laws of the Indies were followed by the Ley Hipotecaria, or the Mortgage Law of 1893.7 The Spanish Mortgage Law provided for the systematic registration of titles and deeds as well as possessory claims. The law sought to register and tax lands pursuant to the Royal Decree of 1880. The Royal Decree of 1894, or the “Maura Law,” was partly an amendment of the Mortgage Law as well as the Laws of the Indies, as already amended by previous orders and decrees. 8 This was the last Spanish land law promulgated in the Philippines. It required the “adjustment” or registration of all agricultural lands, otherwise the lands shall revert to the state.
Four years later, by the Treaty of Paris of December 1, 1898, Spain ceded to the government of the United States all rights, interests and claims over the national territory of the Philippine Islands. In 1903, the United States colonial government, through the Philippine Commission, passed Act No. 926, the first Public Land Act.
B. Valenton v. Murciano
In 1904, under the American regime, this Court decided the case of Valenton v.
Murciano.9
Valenton resolved the question of which is the better basis for ownership of land: long-time occupation or paper title. Plaintiffs had entered into peaceful occupation of the subject land in 1860. Defendant’s predecessor-in-interest, on the other hand, purchased the land from the provincial treasurer of Tarlac in 1892. The lower court ruled against the plaintiffs on the ground that they had lost all rights to the land by not objecting to the administrative sale. Plaintiffs appealed the judgment, asserting that their 30-year adverse possession, as an extraordinary period of prescription in the Patidas and the Civil Code, had given them title to the land as against everyone, including the State; and that the State, not owning the land, could not validly transmit it.
The Court, speaking through Justice Willard, decided the case on the basis of “those special laws which from earliest time have regulated the disposition of the public lands in the colonies.”10 The question posed by the Court was: “Did these special laws recognize any right of description as against the State as to these lands; and is so, to what extent was it recognized?”
Prior to 1880, the Court said, there were no laws specifically providing for the disposition of land in the Philippines. However, it was understood that in the absence of any special law to govern a specific colony, the Laws of the Indies would be followed. Indeed, in the Royal Order of July 5, 1862, it was decreed that until regulations on the subject could be prepared, the authorities of the Philippine Islands should follow strictly the Laws of the Indies, the Ordenanza of the Intendentes of 1786, and the Royal Cedula of 1754.11
Quoting the preamble of Law 14, Title 12, Book 4 of the Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias, the court interpreted it as follows:
“In the preamble of this law there is, as is seen, a distinct statement that all those lands belong to the Crown which have not been granted by Philip, or in his name, or by the kings who preceded him. This statement excludes the idea that there might be lands not so granted, that did not belong to the king. It excludes the idea that the king was not still the owner of all ungranted lands, because some private person had been in the adverse occupation of them. By the mandatory part of the law all the occupants of the public lands are required to produce before the authorities named, and within a time to be fixed by them, their title papers. And those who had good title or showed prescription were to be protected in their holdings. It is apparent that it was not the intention of the law that mere possession for a length of time should make the possessors the owners of the land possessed by them without any action on the part of the authorities.”12
The preamble stated that all those lands which had not been granted by Philip, or in his name, or by the kings who preceded him, belonged to the Crown.13 For those lands granted by the king, the decree provided for a system of assignment of such lands. It also ordered that all possessors of agricultural land should exhibit their title deed, otherwise, the land would be restored to the Crown. 14
The Royal Cedula of October 15, 1754 reinforced the Recopilacion when it ordered the Crown’s principal subdelegate to issue a general order directing the publication of the Crown’s instructions:
“x x x to the end that any and all persons who, since the year 1700, and up to the date of the promulgation and publication of said order, shall have occupied royal lands, whether or not x x x cultivated or tenanted, may x x x appear and exhibit to said subdelegates the titles and patents by virtue of which said lands are occupied. x x x. Said subdelegates will at the same time warn the parties interested that in case of their failure to present their title deeds within the term designated, without a just and valid reason therefore, they will be deprived of and evicted from their lands, and they will be granted to others.” 15
On June 25, 1880, the Crown adopted regulations for the adjustment of lands “wrongfully occupied” by private individuals in the Philippine Islands. Valenton construed these regulations together with contemporaneous legislative and executive interpretations of the law, and concluded that plaintiffs’ case fared no better under the 1880 decree and other laws which followed it, than it did under the earlier ones. Thus as a general doctrine, the Court stated:
“While the State has always recognized the right of the occupant to a deed if he proves a possession for a sufficient length of time, yet it has always insisted that he must make that proof before the proper administrative officers, and obtain from them his deed, and until he did that the State remained the absolute owner.”16
In conclusion, the Court ruled: “We hold that from 1860 to 1892 there was no law in force in these lands by prescription, without any action by the State.” 17Valenton had no rights other than those which accrued to mere possession. Murciano, on the other hand, was deemed to be the owner of the land by virtue of the grant by the provincial secretary. In effect, Valenton upheld the Spanish concept of state ownership of public land.
As a fitting observation, the Court added that “[t]he policy pursued by the Spanish Government from earliest times, requiring settlers on the public lands to obtain title deeds therefore from the State, has been continued by the American Government in Act No. 926.”18
C. The Public Land Acts and the Torrens System
Act No. 926, the first Public Land Act, was passed in pursuance of the provisions of the
Philippine Bill of 1902. The law governed the disposition of lands of the public domain. It prescribed rules and regulations for the homesteading, selling, and leasing of portions of the public domain of the Philippine Islands, and prescribed the terms and conditions to enable persons to perfect their titles to public lands in the Islands. It also provided for the “issuance of patents to certain native settlers upon public lands,” for the establishment of town sites and slae of lots therein, for the completion of imperfect titles, and for the cancellation or confirmation of Spanish concessions and grants in the Islands.” In short, the Public Land Act operated on the assumption that title to public lands in the Philippine Islands remained in the government;19 and that the government’s title to public land sprung from the Treaty of Paris and other subsequent treaties between Spain and the United States.20 The term “public land” referred to all lands of the public domain whose title still remained in the government and are thrown open to private appropriation and settlement,21 and excluded the patrimonial property of the government and the friar lands. 22
Act No. 926 was superseded in 1919 by Act 2874, the second Public Land Act. This new law was passed under the Jones Law. It was more comprehensive in scope but limited the exploitation of agricultural lands to Filipinos and Americans and citizens of other countries which gave Filipinos the same privileges.23 After the passage of the 1935 Constitution, Act 2874 was amended in 1936 by Commonwealth Act No. 141. Commonwealth Act No. 141 remains the present Public Land Law and it is essentially the same as Act 2874. The main difference between the two relates to the transitory provisions on the rights of American citizens and corporations during the Commonwealth period at par with Filipino citizens and corporations.24
Grants of public land were brought under the operation of the Torrens system under Act 496, or the Land Registration Law of 1903. Enacted by the Philippine Commission, Act 496 placed all public and private lands in the Philippines under the Torrens system. The law is said to be almost a verbatim copy of the Massachussetts Land Registration Act of 1898,25 which, in turn, followed the principles and procedure of the Torrens system of registration formulated by Sir Robert Torrens who patterned it after the Merchant Shipping Acts in South Australia. The Torrens system requires that the government issue an official certificate of title attesting to the fact that the person named is the owner of the property described therein, subject to such liens and encumbrances as thereon noted or the law warrants or reserves. 26 The certificate of title is indefeasible and imprescriptible and all claims to the parcel of land are quieted upon issuance of said certificate. This system highly facilitates land conveyance and negotiation. 27
D. The Philippine Constitutions
The Regalian Doctrine was enshrined in the 1935 Constitution. One of the fixed and
dominating objectives of the 1935 Constitutional Convention was the nationalization and conservation of the natural resources of the country.28 There was an overwhelming sentiment in the Convention in favor of state ownership of natural resources and the adoptation of the Regalian doctrine.29 State ownership of natural resources was seen as a necessary starting point to secure recognition of the state’s power to control their disposition, exploitation, development, or utilization. 30 The delegates to the Constitutional Convention very well knew that the concept of State ownership of land and natural resources was introduced by the Spaniards, however, they were not certain whether it was continued and applied by the Americans. To remove all doubts, the Convention approved the provision in the Constitutional affirming the Regalian doctrine.31
Thus, the 1935 Constitution, in Section 1 of Article XIII on “Conservation and Utilization of Natural Resources,” reads as follows:
“Sec. 1. All agricultural, timber, and mineral lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, and other natural resources of the Philippines belong to the State, and their disposition, exploitation, development, or utilization shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of the capital of which is owned by such citizens, subject to any existing right, grant, lease, or concession at the time of the inauguration of the government established under this Constitution. Natural resources, with the exception of public agricultural land, shall not be alienated, and no license, concession, or lease for the exploitation, development, or utilization of any of the natural resources shall be granted for a period exceeding twenty-five years, except as to water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the development of water power, in which cases beneficial use may be the measure and the limit of the grant.”
The 1973 Constitution reiterated the Regalian doctrine in Section 8, Article XIV on the “National Economy and the Patrimony of the Nation,” to wit:
“Sec. 8. All lands of the public domain, minerals, coal, petroleum and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, wildlife, and other natural resources of the Philippines belong to the State. With the exception of agricultural, industrial or commercial, residential, and resettlement lands of the public domain, natural resources shall not be alienated, and no license, concession, or lease for the exploration, development, exploitation, or utilization of any of the natural resources shall be granted for a period exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not more than twenty-five years, except as to water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the development of water power, in which cases beneficial use may be the measure and the limit of the grant.”
The 1987 Constitution reaffirmed the Regalian doctrine in Section 2 of Article XII on “National Economy and Patrimony,” to wit:
“Sec. 2. All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils, all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and other natural resources are owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural lands, all other natural resources shall not be alienated. The exploration, development and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State. The State may directly undertake such activities or it may enter into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing agreements with Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens. Such agreements may be for a period not exceeding twenty-five years, renewable for not more than twenty-five years, and under such terms and conditions as may be provided by law. In cases of water rights for irrigation, water supply, fisheries, or industrial uses other than the development of water power, beneficial use may be the measure and limit of the grant.
x x x . “
Simply stated, all lands of the public domain as well as all natural resources enumerated therein, whether on public or private land, belong to the State. It is this concept of State ownership that petitioners claim is being violated by the IPRA.
II. THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES RIGHTS ACT
Republic Act No. 8371 is entitled “An Act to Recognize, Protect and Promote the Rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples, Creating a National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, Establishing Implementing Mechanisms, Appropriating Funds Therefore, and for Other Purposes.” It is simply known as “The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997” or the IPRA.
The IPRA recognizes the existence of the indigenous cultural communities or indigenous peoples (ICCs/IPs) as a distinct sector in Philippine society. It grants these people the ownership and possession of their ancestral domains and ancestral lands, and defines the extent of these lands and domains. The ownership given is the indigenous concept of ownership under customary law which traces its origin to native title.
Other rights are also granted the ICCs/IPs, and these are:
- the right to develop lands and natural resources;
- the right to stay in the territories;
- the right in case of displacement;
- the right to safe and clean air and water;
- the right to claim parts of reservations;
- the right to resolve conflict;32
- the right to ancestral lands which include
a. the right to transfer land/property to/among members of the same ICCs/IPs, subject to customary laws and traditions of the community concerned;
b. the right to redemption for a period not exceeding 15 years from date transfer, if the transfer is to a non-member of the ICC/IP and is tainted by vitiated consent of the ICC/IP, or if the transfer is for an unconscionable consideration.33
Within their ancestral domains and ancestral lands, the ICCs/IPs are given the right to
self-governance and empowerment,34 social justice and human rights,35 the right to preserve and protect their culture, traditions, institutions and community intellectual rights, and the right to develop their own sciences and technologies.36
To carry out the policies of the Act, the law created the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). The NCIP is an independent agency under the Office of the President and is composed of seven (7) Commissioners belonging to ICCs/IPs from each of the ethnographic areas --- Region I and the Cordilleras; Region II; the rest of Luzon; Island groups including Mindoro, Palawan, Romblon, Panay and the rest of the Visayas; Northern and Western Mindanao; Southern and Eastern Mindanao; and Central Mindanao. 37 The NCIP took over the functions of the Office for Northern Cultural Communities and the Office for Southern Cultural Communities created by former President Corazon Aquino which were merged under a revitalized structure. 38
Disputes involving ICCs/IPs are to be resolved under customary laws and practices. When still unresolved, the matter may be brought to the NCIP, which is granted quasi-judicial powers.39 The NCIP’s decisions may be appealed to the Court of Appeals by a petition for review.
Any person who violates any of the provisions of the Act such as, but not limited to, unauthorized and/or unlawful intrusion upon ancestral lands and domains shall be punished in accordance with customary laws or imprisoned from 9 months to 12 years and/or fined from P100,000.00 to P500,000.00 and obliged to pay damages.40
A. Indigenous Peoples
The IPRA is a law dealing with a specific group of people, i.e., the Indigenous Cultural
Communities (ICCs) or the Indigenous Peoples (IPs). The term “ICCs” is used in the 1987 Constitution while that of “IPs” is the contemporary international language in the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 16941 and the United Nations (UN) Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.42
ICCs/IPs are defined by the IPRA as:
“Sec. 3 [h]. Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples --- refer to a group of people or homogeneous societies identified by self-ascription and ascription by others, who have continuously lived as organized community on communally bounded and defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized such territories, sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became historically differentiated from the majority of Filipinos. ICCs/IPs shall likewise include peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited the country, at the time of conquest or colonization, or at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures, or the establishment of present state boundaries, who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains.”
Indigenous Cultural Communities or indigenous Peoples refer to a group of people or homogeneous societies who have continuously lived as an organized community on communally bounded and defined territory. These groups of people have actually occupied, possessed and utilized their territories under claim of ownership since time immemorial. They share common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, or, they, by their resistance to political, social and cultural inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions and cultures, became historically differentiated from the Filipino majority. ICCs/IPs also include descendants of ICCs/IPs who inhabited the country at the time of conquest or colonization, who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions but who may have been displaced from their traditional territories or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains.
1. Indigenous Peoples: Their History
Presently, Philippine indigenous peoples inhabit the interiors and mountains of Luzon,
Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Samar, Leyte, and the Palawan and Sulu group of islands. They are composed of 110 tribes and are as follows:
1. In the Cordillera Autonomous Region --- Kankaney, Ibaloi, Bontoc, Tinggian or Itneg, Ifugao, Kalinga, Yapayao, Aeta or Agta or Pugot, and Bago of Ilocos Norte and Pangasinan; Ibanag of Isabela, Cagayan; Ilongot of Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya; Gaddang of Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Itawis of Cagayan; Ivatan of Batanes, Aeta of Cagayan, Quirino and Isabela.
2. In Region III --- Aetas.
3. In Region IV --- Dumagats of Aurora, Rizal; Remontado of Aurora, Rizal, Quezon; Alangan or Mangyan, Batangan, Buid or Buhid, Hanunuo and Iraya of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro; Tadyawan of Occidental Mindoro; Cuyonon, Palawanon, Tagbanua and Tao’t bato of Palawan.
4. In Region V --- Aeta of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur; Aeta-Abiyan, Isarog, and Kabihug of Camarines Norte; Agta, and Mayon of Camarines Sur; Itom of Albay, Cimaron of Sorsogon; and the Pullon of Masbate and Camarines Sur.
5. In Region VI --- Ati of Negros Occidental, Iloilo and Antique, Capiz; the Magahat of Negros Occidental; the Corolano and Sulod.
6. In Reion VII --- Magahat of Negros Oriental and Eskaya of Bohol.
7. In Region IX --- The Badjao numbering about 192, 000 in Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur; the Kalibungan of Basilan, the Samal, Sunbanon and Yakat.
8. Region X --- Numbering 1.6 million in Region X alone, the IPs are: the Banwaon, Bukidnon, Matigsalog, Talaanding of Bukidnon; the Camiguin of Camiguin Island; the Higa-unon of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon and Misamis Occidental; the Tigwahanon of Agusan del Sur, Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental, the Manobo of the Agusan provinces, and the Umayamnon of Agusan and Bukidnon.
9. In Region XI --- There are about 1, 774, 065 IPs in Region XI. They are tribes of the Dibabaon, Mansaka of Davao del Norte; B’laan, Kalagan, Langilad, T’boli and Talaingod of Davao del Sur; Mamamanua of Surigao del Sur; Mandaya of the Surigao provinces and Davao Oriental; Manobo Blit of South Cotabato; the Manguguangon of Davao and South Cotabato; Matigsalog of Davao del Norte and Del Sur; Tagakaolo, Tasaday and Ubo of South Cotabato; and Bagobo of Davao del Sur and South Cotabato.
10. In Region XII --- Ilianen, Tiruray, Maguindanao, Maranao, Tausug, Yakan/Samal, and Iranon.43
How these indigenous peoples came to live in the Philippines goes back to as early as 25,000 to 30,000 B.C.
Before the time of Western contact, the Philippine archipelago was peopled largely by the Negritos, Indonesians and Malays.44 The strains from these groups eventually gave rise to common cultural features which became the dominant influence in ethnic reformulation in the archipelago. Influences from the Chinese and Indian civilization in the third or fourth millennium B.V. augmented these ethnic strains. Chinese economic and socio-cultural influences came by way of Chinese porcelain, silk and traders. Indian influence found their way into the religious-cultural aspect of pre-colonial society.45
The ancient Filipinos settled beside bodies of water. Hunting and food gathering became supplementary activities as reliance on them was reduced by fishing and the cultivation of the soil.46 From the hinterland, coastal, and riverine communities, our ancestors evolved an essentially homogenous culture, a basically common way of life where nature was a primary factor. Community life throughout the archipelago was influenced by, and responded to, common ecology. The generally benign tropical climate and the largely uniform flora and fauna favored similarities, not differences.47 Life was essentially subsistence but not harsh.48
The early Filipinos had a culture that was basically Malayan in structure and form. They had languages that traced their origin to the Austronesian parent-stock and used them not only as a media of daily communication but also as vehicles for the expression of their literary moods. 49
They fashioned concepts and beliefs about the world that they could not see, but which they sensed to be part of their lives.50 They had their own religion and religious beliefs. They believed in the immortality of the soul and life after death. Their rituals were based on beliefs in a ranking deity whom the called Bathalang Maykapal, and a host of other deities, in the environmental spirits and in soul spirits. The early Filipinos adored the sun, the moon, the animals and birds, for they seemed to consider the objects of Nature as something to be respected. They venerated almost any object that was close to their daily life, indicating the importance of the relationship between man and the object of nature.51
The unit of government was the “barangay,” a term that derived its meaning from the Malay word “balangay,” meaning, a boat, which transported them to these shores.52 The barangay was basically a family-based community and consisted of thirty to one hundred families. Each barangay was different and ruled by a chieftain called a “dato.” It was the chieftain’s duty to rule and govern his subjects and promote their welfare and interests. A chieftain had wide powers for he exercised all the functions of government. He was the executive, legislator and judge and was the supreme commander in time of was.53
Laws were either customary or written. Customary laws were handed down orally from generation and constituted the bulk of the laws of the barangay. They were preserved in songs and chants and in the memory of the elder persons in the community.54 The written laws were those that the chieftain and his elders promulgated from time to time as the necessity arose. 55 The oldest know written body of laws was the Maragtas Code by Datu Sumakwel at about 1250 A.D. Other old codes are the Muslim Code of Luwaran and the Principal Code of Sulu.56 Whether customary or written, the laws dealt with various subjects, such as inheritance, divorce, usury, loans, partnership, crime and punishment, property rights, family relations and adoption. Whenever disputes arose, these were decided peacefully through a court composed by the chieftain as “judge” and the barangay elders as “jury.” Conflicts arising between subjects of different barangays were resolved by arbitration in which a board composed of elders from neutral barangays acted as arbiters.57
Baranganic society had a distinguishing feature: the absence of private property of land. The chiefs merely administered the lands in the name of the barangay. The social order was an extension of the family with chiefs embodying the higher unity of the community. Each individual, therefore, participated in the community ownership of the soil and the instruments of production as a member of the barangay. 58 This ancient communalism was practiced in accordance with the concept of mutual sharing of resources so that no individual, regardless of status, was without sustenance. Ownership of land was non-existent or unimportant and the right of usufruct was what regulated the development of lands.59 Marine resources and fishing grounds were likewise free to all. Coastal communities depended for their economic welfare on the kind of fishing sharing concept similar to those in land communities.60 Recognized leaders, such as the chieftains and elders, by virtue of their positions of importance, enjoyed some economic privileges and benefits. But their rights, related to either land and sea, were subject to their responsibility to protect the communities from danger and to provide them with the leader ship and means of survival.61
Sometime in the 13th century, Islam was introduced to the archipelago in Maguindanao. The Sultanate of Sulu was established and claimed jurisdiction over territorial areas represented today by Tawi-tawi, Sulu, Palawan, Basilan and Zamboanga. Four ethnic groups were within this jurisdiction: Sama, Tausug, Yakan and Subanon.62 The Sultanate of Maguindanao spread out from Cotabato toward Maranao territory, now Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.63
The Muslim societies evolved an Asiatic form of feudalism where land was still held in common but was private in use. This is clearly indicated in the Muslim Code of Luwaran. The Code contains a provision on the lease of cultivated lands. It, however, has no provision for the acquisition, transfer, cession or sale of land.64
The societies encountered by Magellan and Legaspi therefore were primitive economies where most production was geared to the use of the producers and to the fulfillment of kinship obligations. They were not economies geared to exchange and profit.65 Moreover, the family basis of barangay membership as well as of leadership and governance worked to splinter the population of the islands into numerous small and separate communities.66
When the Spaniards settled permanently in the Philippines in 1565, they found the Filipinos living in barangay settlements scattered along water routes and river banks. One of the first tasks imposed on the missionaries and the encomenderos was to collect all scattered Filipinos together in a reduccion.67 As early as 1551, the Spanish government assumed an unvarying solicitous attitude towards the natives.68 The Spaniards regarded it a sacred “duty to conscience and humanity to civilize these less fortunate people living in the obscurity of ignorance” and to accord them the “moral and material advantages” of community life and the “protection and vigilance afforded them by the same laws.”69
The Spanish missionaries were ordered to establish pueblos where the church and convent would be constructed. All the new Christian converts were required to construct their houses around the church and the unbaptized were invited to do the same.70 With the reduccion, the Spaniards attempted to “tame” the reluctant Filipinos through Christian indoctrination using the convento/casa real/plaza complex as focal point. The reduccion, to the Spaniards, was a “civilizing” device to make the Filipinos law-abiding citizens of the Spanish Crown, and in the long run, to make them ultimately adopt Hispanic culture and civilization.71
All lands lost by the old barangays in the process of pueblo organization as well as all lands not assigned to them and the pueblos, were now declared to be crown lands or realengas, belonging to the Spanish king. It was from the realengas that land grants were made to non-Filipinos.72
The abrogation of the Filipinos’ ancestral rights in land and the introduction of the concept of public domain were the most immediate fundamental results of Spanish colonial theory and law.73 The concept that the Spanish king was the owner of everything of value in the Indies or colonies was imposed on the natives, and the natives were stripped of their ancestral rights to land.74
Increasing their foothold in the Philippines, the Spanish colonialists, civil and religious, classified the Filipinos according to their religious practices and beliefs, and divided them into three types. First were the Indios, the Christianized Filipinos, who generally came from the lowland populations. Second, were the Moros or the Muslim communities, and the third, were the infieles or the indigenous communities.75
The Indio was a product of the advent of Spanish culture. This class was favored by the Spaniards and was allowed certain status although below the Spaniards. The Moros and infieles were regarded as the lowest classes.76
The Moros and infieles resisted Spanish rule and Christianity. The Moros were driven from Manila and the Visayas to Mindanao; while the infieles, to the hinterlands. The Spaniards did not pursue them into thedeep interior. The upland societies were naturally outside the immediate concern of Spanish interest, and the cliffs and forests of the hinterlands were difficult and inaccessible, allowing the infieles, in effect, relative security.77 Thus, the infieles, which were peripheral to colonial administration, were not only able to preserve their own culture but also thwarted the Christianization process, separating themselves from the newly evolved Christian community. 78 Their own political, economic and social systems were kept constantly alive and vibrant.
The pro-Christian or pro-Indio attitude of colonialism brought about a generally mutual feeling of suspicion, fear, and hostility between the Christians ont eh one hand and the non-Christians on the other. Colonialism tended to divide and rule an otherwise culturally and historically related populace through a colonial system that exploited both the virtues and vices of the Filipinos. 79
President McKinley, in his instructions to the Philippine Commission of April 7, 1900, addressed the existence of the infieles:
“In dealing with the uncivilized tribes of the Islands, the Commission should adopt the same course followed by Congress in permitting the tribes of our North American Indians to maintain their tribal organization and government, and under which many of those tribes are now living inpeace and contentment, surrounded by civilization to which they are unable or unwilling to conform. Such tribal government should, however, be subjected to wise and firm regulation; and, without undue or petty interference, constant and active effort should be exercised to prevent barbarous practices and introduce civilized customs.”80
Placed in an alternative of either letting the natives alone or guiding them in the path of civilization, the American government chose “to adopt the latter measure as one more in accord with humanity and with the national conscience.” 81
The Americans classified the Filipinos into two: the Christian Filipinos and the non-Christian Filipinos. The term “non-Christian” referred not to religious belief; but to a geographical area, and more directly, “to natives of the Philippine Islands of a low grade of civilization, usually living in tribal relationship apart from settled communities.”82
Like the Spaniards, the Americans pursued a policy of assimilation. In 1903, they passed Act No. 253 creating the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes (BNCT). Under the Department of the Interior, the BNCT’s primary task was to conduct ethnographic research among unhispanized Filipinos, including those in Muslim Mindanao, with a “special view to determining the most practicable means for bringing about their advancement in civilization and prosperity.” The BNCT was modeled after the bureau with American Indians. The agency took a keen anthropological interest in Philippine cultural minorities and produced a wealth of valuable materials about them. 83
The 1935 Constitution did not carry any policy on the non-Christian Filipinos. The raging issue then was the conservation of the national patrimony for the Filipinos.
In 1957, the Philippine Congress passed R.A. No. 1888, an “Act to effectuate in am ore rapid and complete manner the economic, social, moral and political advancement of the non-Christian Filipinos or national cultural minorities and to render real, complete, and permanent the integration of all said national cultural minorities into the body politic, creating the Commission on National Integration charged with said functions.” The law called for a policy of integration of indigenous peoples into the Philippine mainstream and for this purpose created the Commission on National Integration (CNI).84 The CNI was given, more or less, the same task as the BNCT during the American regime. The post-independence policy of integration was like the colonial policy of assimilation understood in the context of a guardian-ward relationship.85
The policy of assimilation and integration did not yield the desired result. Like the Spaniards and Americans, government attempts at integration met with fierce resistance. Since World War II, a tidal wave of Christian settlers from the lowlands of Luzon and theVisayas swamped the highlands and wide open spaces in Mindanao.86 Knowledge by the settlers of the Public Land Acts and the Torrens system resulted in the titling of several ancestral lands in the settlers’ names. With government initiative and participation, this titling displaced several indigenous peoples from their lands. Worse, these peoples were also displaced by projects undertaken by the national government in the name of nation development.87
It was in the 1973 Constitution that the State adopted the following provision:
“The State shall consider the customs, traditions, beliefs, and interest of national cultural communities in the formulation and implementation of State policies.”88
For the first time in Philippine history, the “non-Christian tribes” or the “cultural minorities” were addressed by the highest law of the Republic, and they were referred to as “cultural communities.” More importantly this time, their “uncivilized’ culture was given some recognition and their “customs, traditions, beliefs and interests” were to be considered by the State in the formulation and implementation of State policies. President Marcos abolished the CNI and transferred its functions to the Presidential Adviser on National Minorities (PANAMIN). The PANAMIN was tasked to integrate the ethnic groups that sought full integration into the larger community, and at the same time “protect the rights of those who wish to preserve their original lifeways beside the larger community.”89 In short, while still adopting the integration policy, the decree recognized the right of tribal Filipinos to preserve their way to life. 90
In 1974, President Marcos promulgated P.D. No. 410, otherwise known as the Ancestral Lands Decree. The decree provided for the issuance of land occupancy certificates to members of the national cultural communities who were given up to1984 to register their claims.91 In 1979, the Commission on the Settlement of Land Problems was created under E.O. No. 561 which provided a mechanism for the expeditious resolution of land problems involving small settlers, landowners, and tribal Filipinos.92
Despite the promulgation of these laws, from 1974 to the early 1980’s, some 100,000 Kalingas and Bontoks of the Cordillera region were displaced by the Chico river dam project of the National Power Corporation (NPC). The Manobos of Bukidnon saw their land bulldozed by the Bukidnon Sugar Industries Company (BUSCO). In Agusan del Sur, the National Development Company was authorized by law in 1979 to take approximately 40,550 hectares of land that later became the NDC-Guthrie plantation in Agusan del Sur. Most of the land was possessed by the Agusan natives.93 Timber concessions, water projects, plantations, mining, and cattle ranching and other projects of the national government led not only to the eviction of the indigenous peoples from their land but also to the reduction and destruction of their natural environment.94
The Aquino government signified a total shift from the policy of integration to one of preservation. Invoking her powers under the Freedom Constitution, president Aquino created the Office of Muslim Affairs, Office for the Northern Cultural Communities and the Office for Southern Cultural Communities all under the Office of the President. 95
The 1987 Constitution carries at least six (6) provisions which insure the right of tribal Filipinos to preserve their way of life.96 This Constitution goes further than the 1973 Constitution by expressly guaranteeing the rights of tribal Filipinos to their ancestral domains and ancestral lands. By recognizing their right to their ancestral lands and domains, the State has effectively upheld their right to live in a culture distinctly their own.
2. Their Concept of Land
Indigenous peoples share distinctive traits that set them apart from the Filipino mainstream. They are non-Christians. They live in less accessible, marginal, mostly upland areas. They have a system of self-government not dependent upon the laws of the central administration of the Republic of the Philippines. They follow ways of life and customs that are perceived as different from those of the rest of the population.97 The kind of response the indigenous peoples chose to deal with colonial threat worked well to their advantage by making it difficult for Western concepts and religion to erode their customs and traditions. The “infieles societies” which had become peripheral to colonial administration, represented, from a cultural perspective, a much older base of archipelagic culture. The political systems were still structured on the patriarchal and kinship oriented arrangement of power and authority. The economic activities were governed by the concepts of an ancient communalism and mutual help. The social structure which emphasized division of labor and distinction of functions, not status, was maintained. The cultural styles and forms of life portraying the varieties of social courtesies and ecological adjustments were kept constantly vibrant.98
Land is the central element of the indigenous peoples’ existence. There is no traditional concept of permanent, individual, land ownership. Among the Igorots, ownership of land more accurately applies to the tribal right to use the land or to territorial control. The people are the secondary owners or stewards of the land and that if a member of the tribe ceases to work, he loses his claim of ownership, and the land reverts to the beings of the spirit world who are its true and primary owners. Under the concept of “trusteeship,” the right to possess the land does not only belong to the present generation but the future ones as well.99
Customary law on land rests on the traditional belief that no one owns the land except the gods and spirits, and that those who work the land are its mere stewards.100 Customary law has a strong preference for communal ownership, which could either be ownership by a group of individuals or families who are related by blood or by marriage,101 or ownership by residents of the same locality who may not be related by blood or marriage. The system of communal ownership under customary laws draws it meaning form the subsistence and highly collectivized mode of economic production. The Kalingas, for instance, who are engaged in team occupation like hunting, foraging for forest products, and swidden farming found it natural that forest areas, swidden farms, orchards, pasture and burial grounds should be communally-owned.102 For the Kalingas, everybody has a common right to a common economic base. Thus, as a rule, rights and obligations to the land are shared in common.
Although highly bent on communal ownership, customary law on land also sanctions individual ownership. The residential lots and terrace rice farms are governed by a limited system of individual ownership. It is limited because while the individual owner has the right to use and dispose of the property, he does not possess all the rights of an exclusive and full owner as defined under the Civil Code.103 Under Kalinga customary law, the alienation of individually-owned land is strongly discouraged except in marriage and succession and except to meet sudden financial needs due to sickness, death in the family, or loss of crops.104 Moreover, and to be alienated should first be offered to a clan-member before any village-member can purchase it, and in no case may land be sold to a non-member of the ili.105
Land titles do not exist in the indigenous peoples’ economic and social system. The concept of individual land ownership under the civil law is alien to them. Inherently colonial in origin, our national land laws and governmental policies frown upon indigenous claims to ancestral lands. Communal ownership is looked upon as inferior, if not inexistent.106
III. THE IPRA IS A NOVEL PIECE OF LEGISLATION
A. The Legislative History of the IPRA
It was to address the centuries-old neglect of the Philippine indigenous peoples that the Tenth Congress of the Philippines, by their joint efforts, passed and approved R.A. No. 8371, the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997. The law was a consolidation of two Bills --- Senate Bill No. 1728 and House Bill No. 9125.
Principally sponsored by Senator Juan M. Flavier,107 Senate Bill No. 1728 was a consolidation of four proposed measures referred to the Committees on Cultural Communities, Environment and Natural Resources, Ways and Means, as well as Finance. It adopted almost en toto the comprehensive version of Senate Bill Nos.1476 and 1486 which was a result of six regional consultations and one national consultation with indigenous peoples nationwide.108 At the Second Regular Session of the Tenth Congress, Senator Flavier, in his sponsorship speech, gave a background on the situation of indigenous peoples in the Philippines, to wit:
“The Indigenous Cultural Communities, including the Bangsa Moro, have long suffered from the dominance and neglect of government controlled by the majority. Massive migration of their Christian brothers to their homeland shrunk their territory and many of the tribal Filipinos were pushed to the hinterlands. Resisting the intrusion, dispossessed of their ancestral land and with massive exploitation of their natural resources by the elite among the migrant population, they became marginalized. And the government has been an injdispensable party to this insidious conspiracy against the Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs). It organized and supported the resettlement of people to their ancestral land, which was massive during the Commonwealth and early years of the Philippines Republic. Pursuant to the Regalian Doctrine first introduced to our system by Spain through the Royal Decree of 13 February 1894 or the Maura Law, the government passed laws to legitimize the wholesale landgrabbing and provide for easy titling or grant of lands to migrant homesteaders within the traditional areas of the ICCs.”109
Senator Flavier further declared:
“The IPs are the offsprings and heirs of the peoples who have first inhabited and cared for the land long before any central government was established. Their ancestors had territories over which they ruled themselves and related with other tribes. These territories- the land- include people, their dwelling, the mountains, the water, the air, plants, forest and the animals. This is their environment in their totality. Their existence as indigenous peoples is manifested in their own lives through political, economic, socio-cultural and spiritual practices. The IPs culture is the living and irrefutable proof to this.
Their survival depends on securing or acquiring land rights; asserting their rights to it; and depending on it. Otherwise, IPs shall cease to exist as distinct peoples.”110
To recognize the rights of the indigenous peoples effectively, Senator Flavier proposed a bill based on two postulates: (1) the concept of native title; and (2) the principle of parens patriae.
According to Senator Flavier, “[w]hile our legal tradition subscribes to the Regalian Doctrine reinstated in Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution,” our “decisional laws” and jurisprudence passed by the State have “made exception to the doctrine.” This exception was first laid down in the case of Cariño v. Insular Government where:
“x x x the court has recognized long occupancy of land by an indigenous member of the cultural communities as one of private ownership, which, in legal concept, is termed “native title.” This ruling has not been overturned. In fact, it was affirmed in subsequent cases.”111
Following Cariño, the State passed Act No. 926, Act No. 2874, C.A. No. 141, P.D. 705, P.D. 410, P.D. 1529, R.A. 6734 (the Organic Act for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao). These laws, explicitly or implicitly, and liberally or restrictively, recognized “native title” or “private right” and the existence of ancestral lands and domains. Despite the passage of these laws, however, Senator Flavier continued:
“x x x the executive department of government since the American occupation has not implemented the policy. In fact, it was more honored in its breach than in its observance, its wanton disregard shown during the period unto the Commonwealth and the early years other Philippine Republic when government organized and supported massive resettlement of the people to the land of the ICCs.”
Senate bill No. 1728 seeks to genuinely recognize the IPs right to own and possess their ancestral land. The bill was prepared also under the principle of parens patriae inherent in the supreme power of the State deeply embedded in Philippine legal tradition. This principle mandates that persons suffering from serious disadvantage or handicap, which places them in a position of actual inequality in their relation or transaction with others, are entitled to the protection of the State.
Senate Bill No. 1728 was passed on Third Reading by twenty-one (21) Senators voting in favor and none against, with no abstention.112
House Bill No. 9125 was sponsored by Rep. Zapata, Chairman of the Committee on Cultural Communities. It was originally authored and subsequently presented and defended on the floor by Rep. Gregorio Andolana of North Cotabato.113
Rep. Andolana’s sponsorship speech reads as follows:
“This Representation, as early as in the 8th Congress, filed a bill of similar implications that would promote, recognize the rights of indigenous cultural communities within the framework of national unity and development.
“Apart from this, Mr. Speaker, is our obligation, the government’s obligation to assure and ascertain that these rights shall be well preserved and the cultural traditions as well as the indigenous laws that remained long before this Republic was established shall be preserved and promoted. There is a need, Mr. Speaker, to look into these matters seriously and early approval of the substitute bill shall bring into reality the aspirations, the hope and the dreams of more than 12 million Filipinos that they be considered in the mainstream of the Philippine society as we fashion for the year 2000.”114
Rep. Andolana stressed that H.B. No. 9125 is based on the policy of preservation as mandated in the Constitution. He also emphasized that the rights of IPs to their land was enunciated in Cariño v. Insular Government which recognized the fact that they had vested rights prior to the establishment of the Spanish and American regimes.115
After exhaustive interpellation, House Bill No. 9125, and its corresponding amendments, was approved on Second Reading with no objections.
IV. THE PROVISIONS OF THE IPRA DO NOT CONTRAVENE THE CONSTITUTION
A. Ancestral Domains and Ancestral Lands are the Private Property of Indigenous Peoples and Do Not Constitute Part of the Land of the Public Domain.
The IPRA grants to ICCs/IPs a distinct kind of ownership over ancestral domains and ancestral lands. Ancestral lands are not the same as ancestral domains. These are defined in Section 3 [a] and [b] of the Indigenous Peoples Act, viz:
“Sec. 3 a) Ancestral Domains. --- Subject to Section 56 hereof, refer to all areas generally belonging to ICCs/IPs comprising lands, inland waters, coastal areas, and natural resources therein, held under a claim of ownership, occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs by themselves or through their ancestors, communally or individually since time immemorial, continuously to the present except when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as a consequence of government projects or any other voluntary dealings entered into by government and private individuals/corporations, and which are necessary to ensure their economic, social and cultural welfare. It shall include ancestral lands, forests, pasture, residential, agricultural, and other lands individually owned whether alienable and disposable or otherwise, hunting grounds, burial grounds, worship areas, bodies of water, mineral and other natural resources, and lands which may no longer be exclusively occupied by ICCs/IPs but from which they traditionally had access to for their subsistence and traditional activities, particularly the home ranges of ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic and/or shifting cultivators.
b) Ancestral Lands. --- Subject to Section 56 hereof, refers to land occupied, possessed and utilized by individuals, families and clans who are members of the ICCs/IPs since time immemorial, by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest, under claims of individual or traditional group ownership, continuously, to the present except when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth, or as a consequence of government projects and other voluntary dealings entered into by government and private individuals/corporations, including, but not limited to, residential lots, rice terraces or paddies, private forests, swidden farms and tree lots.”
Ancestral domains are all areas belonging to ICCs/IPs held under a claim of ownership,
occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs by themselves or through their ancestors, communally or individually since time immemorial, continuously until the present, except when interrupted by war, force majeure or displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as a consequence of government projects or nay other voluntary dealings with government and/or private individuals or corporations. Ancestral domains comprise lands, inland waters, coastal areas, and natural resources therein and includes ancestral lands, forests, pasture, residential, agricultural, and other lands individually owned whether alienable or not, hunting grounds, burial grounds, worship areas, bodies of water, mineral and other natural resources. They also include lands which may no longer be exclusively occupied by ICCs/IPs but from which they traditionally had access to for their subsistence and traditional activities, particularly the home ranges of ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic and/or shifting cultivators.116
Ancestral lands are lands held by the ICCs/IPs under the same conditions as ancestral domains except that these are limited to lands and that these lands are not merely occupied and possessed but are also utilized by the ICCs/IPs under claims of individual or traditional group ownership. These lands include but are not limited to residential lots, rice terraces or paddies, private forests, swidden farms and tree lots.117
The procedures for claiming ancestral domains and lands are similar to the procedures embodied in Department Administrative Order (DAO) No. 2, series of 1993, signed by then Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Angel Alcala.118 DAO No. 2 allowed the delineation of ancestral domains by special task forces and ensured the issuance of Certificates of Ancestral Land Claims (CALC’s) and Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claims (CADC’s) to IPs.
The identification and delineation of these ancestral domains and lands is a power conferred by the IPRA on the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NICP).119 The guiding principle in identification and delineation is self-delineation.120 This means that the ICCs/IPs have a decisive role in determining the boundaries of their domains and in all the activities pertinent thereto.121
The procedure for the delineation and recognition of ancestral domains is set forth in Sections 51 and 52 of the IPRA. The identification, delineation and certification of ancestral lands is in Section 53 of said law.
Upon due to application and compliance with the procedure provided under the law and upon finding by the NCIP that the application is meritorious, the NICP shall issue a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) in the name of the community concerned.122 The allocation of lands within the ancestral domain to any individual or indigenous corporate (family or clan) claimants is left to the ICCs/IPs concerned to decide in accordance with customs and traditions.123 With respect to ancestral lands outside the ancestral domain, the NCIP issues a Certificate of Ancestral Land Title (CALT).124
CADT’s and CALT’s issued the IPRA shall be registered by the NICP before the Register of Deeds in the place where the property is situated.125
(1) Right to Ancestral Domains and Ancestral Lands: How Acquired
The rights of the ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains and ancestral lands may be acquired in two modes: (1) by native title over both ancestral lands and domains; or (2) by torrens title under the Public Land Act and the Land Registration Act with respect to ancestral lands only.
(2) The Concept of Native Title
Native title is defined as:
“Sec. 3 [l]. Native title --- refers to pre-conquest rights to lands and domains which, as far back as memory reaches, have been held under a claim of private ownership by ICCs/IPs, have never been public lands and are thus indisputably presumed to have been held that way since before the Spanish Conquest.”126
Native title refers to ICCs/IPs’ preconquest rights to lands and domains held under a claim of private ownership as far back as memory reaches. These lands are deemed never to have been public lands and are indisputable presumed to have been held that way since before the Spanish Conquest. The rights of ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains (which also include ancestral lands) by virtue of native title shall be recognized and respected.127 Formal recognition, when solicited by ICCs/IPs concerned, shall be embodied in a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT), which shall recognizes the title of the concerned ICCs/IPs over the territories identified and delineated.128
Like a torrens title, a CADT is evidence of private ownership of land by native title. Native title, however, is a right of private ownership peculiarly granted to ICCs/IPs over their ancestral lands and domains. The IPRA categorically declares ancestral lands and domains held by native title as never to have been public land. Domains and lands held under native title are, therefore, indisputably presumed to have never been public lands and are private.
(a) Cariño v. Insular Government129
The concept of native title in the IPRA was taken from the 1909 case of Cariño v.
Insular Government.130 Cariño firmly established a concept of private land title that existed irrespective of any royal grant from the State.
In 1903, Don Mateo Cariño, an Ibaloi, sought to register with the land registration court 146 hectares of land in Baguio Municipality, Benguet Province. He claimed that this land had been possessed and occupied by his ancestors since time immemorial; that his grandfather built fences around the property for the holding of cattle and that his father cultivated some parts of the land. Cariño inherited the land in accordance with Igorot custom. He tried to have the land adjusted under the Spanish land laws, but no document issued from the Spanish Crown.131 In 1901, Carino obtained a possessory title to the land under the Spanish Mortgage Law.132 The North American colonial government, however, ignored his possessory title and built a public road on the land prompting him to seek a Torrens title to his property in the land registration court. While his petition was pending, a U.S. military reservation133 was proclaimed over his land and, shortly thereafter, a military detachment was detailed on the property with orders to keep cattle and trespassers, including Cariño, off the land.134
In 1904, the land registration court granted Cariño’s application for absolute ownership to the land. Both the Government of the Philippine Islands and the U.S. Government appealed to the C.F.I. of Benguet which reversed the land registration court and dismissed Cariño’s application. The Philippine Supreme Court135 affirmed the C.F.I. by applying the Valenton ruling. Cariño took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.136 On one hand, the Philippine government invoked the Regalian doctrine and contended that Cariño failed to comply with the provisions of the Royal Decree of June 25, 1880, which required registration of land claims within a limited period of time. Cariño, on the other, asserted that he was the absolute owner of the land jure gentium, and that the land never formed part of the public domain.
In a unanimous decision written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, the U.S. Supreme Court held:
“It is true that Spain, in its earlier decrees, embodied the universal feudal theory that all lands were held from the Crown, and perhaps the general attitude of conquering nations toward people not recognized as entitled to the treatment accorded to those in the same zone of civilization with themselves. It is true, also, that in legal theory, sovereignty is absolute, and that, as against foreign nations, the United States may assert, as Spain asserted, absolute power. But it does not follow that, as against the inhabitants of the Philippines, the United States asserts that Spain had such power. When theory is left on one side, sovereignty is a question of strength, and may vary in degree. How far a new sovereign shall insist upon the theoretical relation of the subjects to the head in the past, and how far it shall recognize actual facts, are matters for it to decide.”137
The U.S. Supreme court noted that it need not accept Spanish doctrines. The choice was
with the new colonizer. Ultimately, the matter had not be decided under U.S. law.
The Cariño decision largely rested on the North American constitutionalist’s concept of “due process” as well as the pronounced policy “to do justice to the natives.”138 It was based on the strong mandate extended to the Islands via the Philippine Bill of 1902 that “No law shall be enacted in said islands which shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or deny to any person therein the equal protection of the laws.” The court declared:
“The acquisition of the Philippines was not like the settlement of the white race in the United States. Whatever consideration may have been shown to the North American Indians, the dominant purpose of the whites in America was to occupy land. It is obvious that, however stated, the reason for our taking over the Philippines was different. No one, we suppose, would deny that, so far as consistent with paramount necessities, our first object in the internal administration of the islands is to do justice to the natives, not to exploit their country for private gain. By the Organic Act of July 1, 1902, chapter 1369, section 12 (32 Statutes at Large, 691), all the property and rights acquired there by the United States are to be administered ‘for the benefit of the inhabitants thereof.’ It is reasonable to suppose that the attitude thus assumed by the United States with regard to what was unquestionably its own is also its attitude in deciding what it will claim for its own. The same statute made a bill of rights, embodying the safeguards of the Constitution, and, like the Constitution, extends those safeguards to all. It provides that ‘no life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or deny to nay person therein the equal protection of the laws.’ In the light of the declaration that we have quoted from section 12, it is hard to believe that the United States was ready to declare in the next breath that “any person” did not embrace the inhabitants of Benguet, or that it meant by “property” only that which had become such by ceremonies of which presumably a large part of the inhabitants never had heard, and that it proposed to treat as public land what they, by native custom and by long association, --- of the profoundest factors in human though, --- regarded as their own.”139
The Court went further:
“[E]very presumption is and ought to be against the government in a case like the present. It might, perhaps, be proper and sufficient to say that when, as far back as testimony or memory goes, the land has been held by individual under a claim of private ownership, it will be presumed to have been held in the same way from before the Spanish conquest, and never to have been public land. Certainly in a case like this, if there is doubt or ambiguity in the Spanish law, we ought to give the application the benefit of the doubt.”140
The court thus laid down the presumption of a certain title held (1) as far back as testimony or memory went, and (2) under a claim of private ownership. Land held by this title is presumed to “never have been public land.”
Against this presumption, the U.S. Supreme Court analyzed the Spanish decrees upheld in the 1904 decision of Valenton v. Murciano. The U.S. Supreme Court found no proof that the Spanish decrees did not honor native title. On the contrary, the decrees discussed in Valenton appeared to recognize that the natives owned some land, irrespective of any royal grant. The Regalian doctrine declared in the preamble of the Recopilacion was all “theory and discourse” and it was observed that titles were admitted to exist beyond the powers of the Crown, viz:
“If the applicant’s case is to be tried by the law of Spain, we do not discover such clear proof that it was bad by that law as to satisfy us they he does not own the land. To begin with, the older decrees and laws cited by the counsel for the plaintiff in error seem to indicate pretty clearly that the natives were recognized as owning some lands, irrespective of any royal grant. In other words, Spain did not assume to convert all the native inhabitants of the Philippines into trespassers or even into tenants at will. For instance, Book 4, title 12, Law 14 of the Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias, cited for a contrary conclusion in Valenton v. Murciano, 3 Philippine 537, while it commands viceroys and others, when it seems proper, to call for the exhibition of grants, directs them to conform those who hold by good grants or justa prescripcion. It is tru that it begins by the characteristic assertion of feudal overlordship and the origin of all titles in the King or his predecessors. That was theory and discourse. The fact was that titles were admitted to exist that owed nothing to the powers of Spain beyond this recognition in their books.” (Emphasis supplied).141
The court further stated that the Spanish “adjustment” proceedings never held sway over
unconquered territories. The wording of the Spanish laws were not framed in a manner as to convey to the natives that failure to register what to them has always been their own would mean loss of such land. The registration requirement was “not to confer title, but simply to establish it;” it was “not calculated to convey to the mind of an Igorot chief the notion that ancient family possessions were in danger, if he had read every word of it.”
By recognizing this kind of title, the court clearly repudiated the doctrine of Valenton. It was frank enough, however, to admit the possibility that the application might have been deprived of his land under Spanish law because of the inherent ambituity of the decrees and concomitantly, the various interpretations which may be given them. But precisely because of the ambiguity and of the strong “due process mandate” of the Constitution, the court validated this kind of title.142 This title was sufficient, even without government administrative action, and entitled the holder to a Torrens certificate. Justice Holmes explained:
“It will be perceived that the rights of the applicant under the Spanish law present a problem not without difficulties for courts of a legal tradition. We have deemed it proper on that account to notice the possible effect of the change of sovereignty and the act of Congress establishing the fundamental principles now to be observed. Upon a consideration of the whole case we are of the opinion that law and justice require that the applicant should be granted what he seeks, and should not be deprived of what, by the practice and belief of those among whom he lived, was his property, through a refined interpretation of an almost forgotten law of Spain.”143
Thus, the court ruled in favor of Cariño and ordered the registration of the 148
hectares in Baguio Municipality in his name.144
Examining Cariño closer, the U.S. Supreme Court did not categorically refer to the title it upheld as “native title.” It simply said:
“The Province of Benguet was inhabited by a tribe that the Solicitor-General, in his argument, characterized as a savage tribe that never was brought under the civil or military government of the Spanish Crown. It seems probable, if not certain, that the Spanish officials would not have granted to anyone in that province the registration to which formerly the plaintiff was entitled by the Spanish Laws, and which would have made his title beyond question good. Whatever may have been the technical position of Spain it does not follow that, in the view of the United States, he had lost all rights and was a mere trespasser when the present government seized his land. The argument to that effect seems to amount to a denial of native titles through an important part of the Island of Luzon, at least, for the want of ceremonies which the Spaniards would not have permitted and had not the power to enforce.”145
This is the only instance when Justice Holmes used the term “native title” in the entire length of the Cariño decision. It is observed that the widespread use of the term “native title” may be traced to Professor Owen James Lynch, Jr., a Visiting Professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law form the Yale University Law School. In 1982, Prof. Lynch published an article in the Philippine Law Journal entitled Native Title, Private Right and Tribal Land Law. 146 This article was made after Professor Lynch visited over thirty tibal communities throughout the country and studied the origin and development of Philippine land laws.147 He discussed Cariño extensively and used the term “native title” to refer to Cariño’s title as discussed and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in said case.
(b) Indian Title
In a footnote in the same article, Professor Lynch stated that the concept of “native title”
as defined by Justice Holmes in Cariño “is conceptually similar to “aboriginal title” of the American Indians.”148 This is not surprising, according to Prof. Lynch, considering that during the American regime, government policy towards ICCs/IPs was consistently made in reference to native Americans.149 This was clearly demonstrated in the case of Rubi v. Provincial Board of Mindoro.150
In Rubi, the Provincial Board of Mindoro adopted a Resolution authorizing the provincial governor to remove the Mangyans from their domains and place them in a permanent reservation in Sitio Tigbao, Lake Naujan. Any Mangyan who refused to comply was to be imprisoned. Rubi and some Mangyans, including one who was imprisoned for trying to escape from the reservation, filed for habeas corpus claiming deprivation of liberty under the Board Resolution. This Court denied the petition on the ground of police power. It upheld government policy promoting the idea that a permanent settlement was the only successful method for educating the Mangyans, introducing civilized customs, improving their health and morals, and protecting the public forests in which they roamed.151 Speaking through Justice Malcolm, the court said:
“Reference was made in the President’s instructions to the Commission to the policy adopted by the United States for the Indian Tribes. The methods followed by the Government of the Philippine Islands in its dealings with the so-called non-Christian people is said, on argument, to be practically identical with teat followed by the United States Government in its dealings with the Indian tribes. Valuable lessons, it is insisted, can be derived by an investigation of the American-Indian policy.
From the beginning of the United States, and even before, the Indians have been treated as “in a state of pupilage.” The recognized relation between the Government of the United States and the Indians may be described as that of guardian and ward. It is for the Congress to determine when and how the guardianship shall be terminated. The Indians are always subject to the plenary authority of the United States.152
x x x.
As to the second point, the facts in the Standing Bear case and the Rubi case are not exactly identical. But even admitting similarity of facts, yet it is known to all that Indian reservations do exist in the United States, that Indians have been taken from different parts of the country and placed on these reservations, without any previous consultation as to their own wishes, and that, when once so located, they have been made to remain on the reservation for their own good and for the general good of the country. If any lesson can be drawn from the Indian policy is for the legislative and executive branches of the government and that when once so decided upon, the courts should not interfere to upset a carefully planned governmental system. Perhaps, just as many forceful reasons exist for the segregation of the Manguines in Mindoro as existed for the segregation of the different Indian tribes in the United States.153
Rubi applied the concept of Indian grants or reservations in the Philippines. An Indian reservation is a part of the public domain set apart by proper authority for the use and occupation of a tribe or tribes of Indians.154 It may be set apart by an act of Congress, by treaty, or by executive order, but it cannot be established by custom and prescription.155
Indian title to land, however, is not limited to land grants or reservations. It also covers the “aboriginal right of possession or occupancy.”156 The aboriginal right of possession depends on the actual occupancy of the lands in question by the tribe or nation as their ancestral home, in the sense that such lands constitute definable territory occupied exclusively by the particular tribe or nation.157 It is a right which exists apart from any treaty, statute, or other governmental action, although in numerous instances treaties have been negotiated with Indian tribes, recognizing their aboriginal possession and delimiting their occupancy rights or settling and adjusting their boundaries.158
American jurisprudence recognizes the Indians’ or native Americans’ rights to land they have held and occupied before the “discovery” of the Americas by the Europeans. The earliest definitive statement by the U.S. Supreme Court on the nature of aboriginal title was made in 1823 in Johnson & Braham’s Lessee v. M’Intosh.159
In Johnson, the plaintiffs claimed the land in question under two (2) grants made by the chiefs of two (2) Indian tribes. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to recognize this conveyance, the plaintiffs being private persons. The only conveyance that was recognized was that made by the Indians to the government of the European discoverer. Speaking for the court, Chief Justice Marshall pointed out that the potentates of the old world believed that they had made ample compensation to the inhabitants of the new world by bestowing civilization and Christianity upon them; but in addition, said the court, they found it necessary, in order to avoid conflicting settlements and consequent war, to establish the principle that discovery gives title to the government by whose subjects, or by whose authority, the discovery was made, against all other European governments, which title might be consummated by possession.160 The exclusion of all other Europeans gave to the nation making the discovery the sole right of acquiring the soil from the natives and establishing settlements upon it. As regards the natives, the court further stated that:
“Those relations which were to exist between the discoverer and the natives were to be regulated by themselves. The rights thus acquired being exclusive, no other power could interpose between them.
In the establishment of these relations, the rights of the original inhabitants were, in no instance, entirely disregarded; but were necessarily, to a considerable extent, imapaired. They were admitted to be the rightful occupants of the soil, with a legal as well as just claim to retain possession of it, and to use it according to their own discretion; but their rights to complete sovereignty, as independent nations, were necessarily diminished, and their power to dispose of the soil at their own will, to whomsoever they pleased, was denied by the fundamental principle that discovery gave exclusive title to those who made it.
While the different nations of Europe respected the right of the natives as occupants, they asserted the ultimate dominion to be in themselves; and claimed and exercised, as a consequence of this ultimate dominion, a power to grant the soil, while yet in possession of the natives. These grants have been understood by all to convey a title to the grantees, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy.”161
Thus, the discoverer of new territory was deemed to have obtained the exclusive right to
acquire Indian land and extinguish Indian titles. Only to the discoverer --- whether to England, France, Spain or Holland --- did this right belong and not to any other nation or private person. The mere acquisition of the right nonetheless did not extinguish Indian claims to land. Rather, until the discoverer, by purchase or conquest, exercised its right, the concerned Indians were recognized as the “rightful occupants of the soil, with a legal as well as just claim to retain possession of it.” Grants made by the discoverer to her subjects of lands occupied by the Indians were held to convey a title to the grantees, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy. Once the discoverer purchased the land from the Indians or conquered them, it was only then that the discoverer gained an absolute title unrestricted by Indian rights.
The court concluded, in essence, that a grant of Indian lands by Indians could not convey a title paramount to the title of the United States itself to other parties, saying:
“It has never been contended that the Indian title amounted to nothing. Their right of possession has never been questioned. The claim of government extends to the complete ultimate title, charged with this right of possession, and to the exclusive power of acquiring that right”162
It has been said that the history of America, from its discovery to the present day, proves
the universal recognition of this principle.163
The Johnson doctrine was a compromise. It protected Indian rights and their native lands without to invalidate conveyance made by the government to many U.S. citizens.164
Johnson was reiterated in the case of Worcester v. Georgia.165 In this case, the State of Georgia enacted a law requiring all white persons residing within the Cherokee nation to obtain a license or permit from the Governor of Georgia; and any violation of the law was deemed a high misdemeanor. The plaintiffs, who were white missionaries, did not obtain said license and were thus charged with a violation of the Act.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared the Act as unconstitutional for interfering with the treaties established between the United States and the Cherokee nation as well as the Acts of Congress regulating intercourse with them. It characterized the relationship between the United States government and the Indians as:
“The Indian nations were, from their situation, necessarily dependent on some foreign potentate for the supply of their essential wants, and for their protection from lawless and injurious intrusions into their country. That power was naturally termed their protector. They had been arranged under the protection of Great Britain; but the extinguishments of the British power in their neighborhood, and the establishment of that of the United States in its place, led naturally to the declaration, on the part of the Cherokees, that they were under the protection of the United States, and of no other power. They assumed the relation with the United States which had before subsisted with Great Britain.
This relation was that of a nation claiming and receiving the protection of one more powerful, not that of individuals abandoning their national character, and submitting as subjects to the laws of a master.”166
It was the policy of the U.S. government to treat the Indians as nations with distinct territorial boundaries and recognize their right of occupancy over all the lands within their domains. Thus:
“From the commencement of our government Congress has passed acts to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indians; which treat them as nations, respect their rights, and manifest a firm purpose to afford that protection which treaties stipulate. All these acts, and especially that of 1802, which is still in force, manifestly consider the several Indian nations as distinct political communities, having territorial boundaries, within which their authority is exclusive, and having a right to all lands within those boundaries, which is not only acknowledged, but guaranteed by the United States.
x x x.
“The Indian nations had always been considered as distinct, independent political communities, retaining their original natural rights, as the undisputed possessors of the soil from time immemorial, with the single exception of that imposed by irresistible power, which excluded them from intercourse with any other European potentate than the first discoverer of the coast of the particular region claimed: and this was a restriction which those European potentates imposed on themselves, as well as on the Indians. The very term “nation,” so generally applied to them, means “a people distinct from others.” x x x.167
The Cherokee nation, then, is a distinct community, occupying its own territory, with boundaries accurately described, in which the laws of Georgia can have no force, and which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves or in conformity with treaties and with the acts of Congress. The whole intercourse between the United States and this nation is, by our Constitution and laws, vested in the government of the United States.”168
The discovery of the American continent gave title to the government of the discoverer as
against all other European governments. Designated as the naked fee,169 this title was to be consummated by possession and was subject to the Indian title of occupancy. The discoverer acknowledged the Indians’ legal and just claim to retain possession of the land, the Indians being the original inhabitants of the land. The discoverer nonetheless asserted the exclusive right to acquire the Indians’ land --- either by purchase, “defensive” conquest, or cession --- and in so doing, extinguish the Indian title. Only the discoverer could extinguish Indian title because it alone asserted ultimate dominion in itself. Thus, while the different nations of Europe respected the rights of the natives as occupants, they all asserted the ultimate dominion and title to be in themselves.170
As early as the 19th century, it became accepted doctrine that although fee title to
the lands occupied by the Indians when the colonists arrived became vested in the sovereign --- first the discovering European nation and later the original 13 States and the United States --- a right of occupancy in the Indian tribes was nevertheless recognized. The Federal Government continued the policy of respecting the Indian right of occupancy, sometimes called Indian title, which it accorded the protection of complete ownership.171 But this aboriginal Indian interest simply constitutes “permission” from the whites to occupy the land, and means mere possession not specifically recognized as ownership by Congress.172 it is clear that this right of occupancy based upon aboriginal possession is not a property right.173 Thus, aboriginal title is not the same as legal title. Aboriginal title rests on actual, exclusive and continuous use and occupancy for a long time.175 It entails that land owned by Indian title must be used within the tribe, subject to its laws and customs, and cannot be sold to another sovereign government nor to any citizen.176 Such title as Indians have to possess and occupy land is in the tribe, and not in the individual Indian; the right of individual Indians to share in the tribal property usually depends upon tribal membership, the property of the tribe generally being held in communal ownership.177
As a rule, Indian lands are not included in the term “public lands,” which is ordinarily
used to designate such lands as are subject to sale or other disposal under general laws. 178 Indian land which has been abandoned is deemed to fall into the public domain.179 On the other hand, an Indian reservation is a part of the public domain set apart for the use and occupation of a tribe of Indians.180 Once set apart by proper authority, the reservation ceases to be public land, and until the Indian title is extinguished, no one but Congress can initiate any preferential right on, or restrict the nation’s power to dispose of, them.181
The American judiciary struggled for more than 200 years with the ancestral land
claims of indigenous Americans.182 And two things are clear. First, aboriginal title is recognized. Second, indigenous property systems are also recognized. From a legal point of view, certain benefits can be drawn from a comparison of Philippine IPs to native Americans.183 Despite the similarities between native title and aboriginal title, however, there are at present some misgivings on whether jurisprudence on American Indians may be cited authoritatively in the Philippines. The U.S. recognizes the possessory rights of the Indians over their land; title to the land, however, is deemed to have passed to the U.S. as successor of the discoverer. The aboriginal title of ownership is not specifically recognized as ownership by action authorized by Congress.184 The protection of aboriginal title merely guards against encroachment by persons other than the Federal Government.185 Although there are criticisms against the refusal to recognize the native Americans’ ownership of these lands,186 the power of the State to extinguish these titles has remained firmly entrenched.187
Under the IPRA, the Philippine State is not barred form asserting sovereignty over the ancestral domains and ancestral lands.188 The IPRA, however, is still in its infancy and any similarities between its application in the Philippines vis-à-vis American Jurisprudence on aboriginal title will depend on the peculiar facts of each case.
(c) Why the Cariño doctrine is unique
In the Philippines, the concept of native title first upheld in Cariño and enshrined in the IPRA grants ownership, albeit in limited form, of the land to the ICCs/IPs. Native title presumes that the land is private and was never public. Cariño is the only case that specifically and caterogorically recognizes native title. The long line of case citing Cariño did not touch on native title and the private character of ancestral domains and lands. Cariño was cited by the succeeding cases to support the concept of acquisitive prescription under the Public Land Act which is a different matter altogether. Under the Public Land Act, land sought to be registered must be public agricultural land. When the conditions specified in Section 48 [b] of the Public Land Act are complied with, the possessor of the land is deemed to have acquired, by operation of law, a right to a grant of the land.189 The land ceases to be part of the public domain,190 ipso jure191, and is converted to private property by the mere lapse or completion of the prescribed statutory period.
It was only in the case of Oh Cho v. Director of Lands192 that the court declared that the rule that all lands that were not acquired from the government, either by purchase or grant, belong to the public domain has an exception. This exception would be any land that should have been in the possession of an occupant and of his predecessors-in-interest since time immemorial. It is this kind of possession that would justify the presumption that the land had never been part of the public domain or that it had been private property even before the Spanish conquest.193 Oh Cho however, was decided under the provisions of the Public Land Act and Cariño was cited to support the applicant’s claim of acquisitive prescription under the said Act.
All these years, Cariño had quoted out of context simply to justify long, continuous, open adverse possession in the concept of owner of public agricultural land. It is this long, continuous, open and adverse possession in the concept of owner of thirty years both for ordinary citizens194 and members of the national cultural minorities195
The private character of ancestral lands and domains as laid down in the IPRA is further strengthened by the option given to individual ICCs/IPs over their individually-owned ancestral lands. For purpose of registration under the Public Land Act and theLand Registration Act, the IPRA expressly converts ancestral land into public agricultural land which may be disposed of by the State. The necessary implication is that ancestral land is private. It, however, has to be first converted to public agricultural land simply for registration purposes. To wit:
“Sec. 12. Option to Secure Certificate of Title Under Commonwealth Act 141, as amended, or the Land Registration Act 496 --- Individual members of cultural communities, with respect to their individually-owned ancestral lands who, by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest, have been in continuous possession and occupation of the same in the concept of owner since time immemorial or for a period of not less than theirty (30) years immediately preceding the approval of this Act and uncontested by the members of the same ICCs/IPs shall have the option to secure title to their ancestral lands under the provisions of Commonwealth Act 141, as amended, or the Land Registration Act 496.
For this purpose, said individually-owned ancestral lands, which are agricultural in character and actually used for agricultural, residential, pasture, and tree farming
purposes, including those with a slope of eithteen percent (18%) or more, are hereby classified as alienable and disposable agricultural lands.
The option granted under this section shall be exercised within twenty (20) years from the approval of this Act.196
ICCs/IPs are given the option to secure a torrens certificate of title over their individually-owned ancestral lands. This option is limited to ancestral lands only, not domains, and such lands must be individually, not communally, owned.
Ancestral lands that are owned by individual members of ICCs/IPs who, by themselves or throught heir predecessors-in-interest, have been in continuous possession and occupation of the same in the concept of owner since time immemorial197 or for a period of not less than 30 years, which claims are uncontested by the members of the same ICCs/IPs, may be registered under C.A. 141, otherwise known as the Public Land Act, or Act 496, the Land Registration Act. For purposes of registration, the individually-owned ancestral lands are classified as alienable and disposable agricultural lands of the public domain, provided, they are agricultural in character and are actually used for agricultural, residential, pasture and tree farming purposes. Tehse lands shall be classified as public agricultural lands regardless of whether they have a slope of 18% or more.
The classification of ancestral land as public agricultural land is in compliance with the requirements of the Public Land Act and the Land Registration Act. C.A. 141, the Public Land Act, deals specifically with lands of the public domain.198 Its provisions apply to those lands “declared open to disposition or concession “x x x” which have not been reserved for public or quasi-public purposes, nor appropriated by the Government, nor in any manner become private property, nor those on which a private right authorized and recognized by this Act or any other valid law x x x or which having been reserved or appropriated, have ceased to be so.”199 Act 496, the Lnad Registration Act, allows registration only of private lands and public agricultural lands. Since ancestral domains and lands are private, if the ICC/IP wants to avail of the benefits of C.A. 141 and Act 496, the IPRA itself converts his ancestral land, regardless of whether the land has a slope of eighteen per cent (18%) or over,200 from private to public agricultural land for proper disposition.
The option to register land under the Public Land Act and the Land Registration Act ahs nonetheless a limited period. This option must be exercised within twenty (20) years from October 29, 1997, the date of approval of the IPRA.
Thus, ancestral lands and ancestral domains are not part of the lands of the public domain. They are private and belong to the ICCs/IPs. Section 3 of Article XII on National Economy and Patrimony of the 1987 Constitution classifies lands of the public domain into four categories: (a) agricultural, (b) forest or timber, (c) mineral lands, and (d) national parks. Section 5 of the same Article XII mentions ancestral lands and ancestral domains but it does not classify them under any of the said four categories. To classify them as public lands under any one of the four classes will render the entire IPRA law a nullity. The spirit of the IPRA lies in the distinct concept of ancestral domains and ancestral lands. Land and space are of vital convern in terms of sheer survival of the ICCs/IPs.201
The 1987 Constitution mandates the State to “protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands” and that “Congress provide for the applicability of customary laws x x x in determining the ownership and extent of ancestral domain.”202 It is the recognition of the ICCs/IPs distinct rights of ownership over their ancestral domains and lands that breathes life into this constitutional mandate.
B. The right of ownership and possession by the ICCs/IPs of their ancestral domains is a limited form of ownership and does not include the right to alienate the same.
Registration under the Public Land Act and Land Registration Act recognizes the concept of ownership under the civil law. This ownership is based on adverse possession for a specified period, and harkens to Section 44 of the Public Land Act on administrative legalization (free patent) of imperfect or incomplete titles and Section 48 (b) and (c) of the same Act on the judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles. Thus:
“Sec. 44. Any natural-bo