GOVPH Menu

Ancestral Domain/Land Recognition

Through the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA), Certificate of Ancestral Domain Titles(CADTs)
are issued to formally recognize the rights of possession and ownership of Indigenous Cultural
Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) over their ancestral domains as identified and delineated in
accordance with this law, while Certificate of Ancestral Land Titles (CALTs) formally recognize the rights of
ICCs/IPs over their ancestral lands.

Assistance to Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and

Protection Plan (ADSDPP) Formulation
Provision of technical and/or financial assistance to the Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples
(ICCs/IPs) in the formulation of their Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP).
This holistic, comprehensive, and integrated plans shall promote a culture and rights-based approach to
development. It reflects the present and future desired conditions of the ICCs/IPs and contains the types of
programs/projects that they will adopt for the sustainable management and development of their domain and
community. The management plan shall include, but not be limited to, the following basic information:

1. The manner by which the concerned ICCs/IPs shall protect their ancestral domain;
2. The development programs related to livelihood, education, infrastructure, self-governance, environment,
natural resources, culture, and other practical development aspects, that are decided and adopted by the
ICCs/IPs;
3. Community policies covering the implementation of all forms of development activities in the area; and
4. Management System, including the sharing of benefits and responsibilities among members of the concerned
ICCs/IPs.

The program aims to promote all the rights of ICCs/IPs within the framework of national unity and development
and all shall protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their ancestral domains to ensure their economic, social
and cultural well-being; and To recognize the inherent rights of ICCs/IPs to self-governance and self-
determination, and respect the integrity of their values, practices, and institutions as well as guarantee their right
to freely pursue their development and equally enjoy the full measure of human rights and freedom without
distinction or discrimination.

Culturally Appropriate Responsive and Gender-Sensitive

Socio-Economic And Ecology Development Protection
Services
The program provides for policy support and extension of assistance to ICCs/IPs through funding under the
MOOE of the Commission apart from coordination with pertinent government agencies especially charged with
the implementation of various socio-economic services, policies, and programs affecting the ICCs/IPs to ensure
that the ICCs/IPs are directly benefited.

IP Education and Advocacy Services

The Educational Assistance Program. It is the program that aims to provide limited financial
assistance to qualified ICCs/IPs students/pupils based on the criteria set forth in NCIP Administrative Order No.
5, series of 2012, otherwise known as NCIP Guidelines of 2012 on the Merit-Based Scholarship (NCIP-MBS) and
Educational Assistance (NCIP-EA) and its amendments by virtue of Commission En Banc Resolution No. 06-
099-2014, series of 2014.
The Merit-Based Scholarship Program. It is a program that aimed of providing meaningful scholarship to
qualified/deserving IP students based on screening criteria and benefits or privileges set forth in the Guidelines.
The Support and Advocacy Program. This collective term refers to education-related projects and activities that
complement the EAP and MBSP and Advocate holistic development to include initiatives other than educational
assistance and scholarship, such as but not limited to Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) and other
Review programs; Bridging Programs, School and Community-related Health Programs; Appropriate Social
Infrastructures; and Trainings and Research Programs for Culturally Appropriate IP Education.

IP CULTURE SERVICES
Considered as a mechanism of assisting the cultural communities preserve their cultural and
historical heritage and at the same time evoking public awareness and respect for the IPs and their rights, is the
extension of support to them in the practice of their rituals and ceremonies whenever these are necessary held.
The performance of cultural manifestations as in rites, songs dances chants, and games, and the presentation of
their native life ways, literature and arts, fabric and architectural designs, artifacts and instruments, in their
original versions or in a manner in which they have been held through the years, without romanticism or simply
aesthetic motivation, is essential to the IPs authentic flow of life and inherent world views at work. Stereotyping,
false representation and commercialization of indigenous cultures are current fads that must be reckoned with
and corrected. In here, time is of the essence

IP Health Services
Republic Act No. 8371 known as The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 declares that the State
shall recognize and promote all the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) to
governments basic services health included. The Universal Health Care (UHC)/Kalusugan Pangkalahatan (KP)
(AO 2010-0036) addresses inequities in health outcomes ensuring that all Filipinos have equitable access to
health care. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007 (UNDRIP) states that Indigenous
Peoples have the right to improvement of their economic and social conditions without discrimination; develop
priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development; right to traditional medicines maintain their
health practices; conserve their vital medicinal resources and access health and social services without
discrimination; enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; maintain, control,
protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and cultural expressions and intellectual
property over them.

Gender and Rights-based Services

This sub-program covers strategic efforts to protect the rights of the Indigenous Peoples to self-
governance and self-determination ensuring that, but not limited to the following

1. The socio-political structures, systems and institutions of ICCs/IPs are strengthened;

2. The Indigenous structures, systems and institutions are not supplanted by other forms of non-indigenous
governance; and/or
3. The established mechanisms that allow the interfacing of Indigenous systems of governance with the national
systems are established; and
4. The ICC/IP representation in policy and decision-making bodies are institutionalized.

IP Rights Advocacy and Monitoring of Treaty Obligations

In context, Indigenous Peoples human rights and violations of these rights in hinged on the
ICCs/IPs existence or societies of their own even before foreign colonization of the Philippines. Having their own
people, government and territories have been the foundation of their cultural identity, rights to self-determination
and ancestral domains. To ICCs/IPs therefore, human rights is the respect of their collectiveness as groups of
peoples and at the same time, recognizing their rights as citizens of a bigger society of the Philippine Republic.
Their rights are human rights too.
The IP Human Rights Program, with full participation and consultation with ICCs/IPs, aims to contribute to the
organizational outcome of the Commission. It seeks to promote the IPRA as an ICCs/IPs national framework of
their human rights, to advocate ancestral domains as territories of peace and IPs self-determined development,
human security and well- being.
The program strategy shall focus on the IPRA, international rights and other instruments from legal frameworks
into a well-defined call for action involving various sectors such as international and national government, non-
government organizations (NGOs), civil society groups (CSOs), ICCs/IPs leadership structures and IP
organizations and the private sector towards the full enjoyment of ICCs/IPs human rights. A close networks built
from ancestral domains, municipality, provincial, regional and national levels should be strengthened. Moreover,
coordination and monitoring systems and mechanisms or the promotion and protection of IP rights at all levels
shall also be enhanced through the program.
The overall objectives of the program are the following:
General: To ensure that the basic human rights of indigenous peoples/indigenous cultural communities
(IPs/ICCs) basic social, political, cultural and economic rights are respected, recognized, protected and
promoted, to promote ancestral domains as territories of peace and advocate the principle that Indigenous
Peoples (IPs) rights are human rights and the respect of which will realize both the self-determined development
and security of IPs as human being and ancestral domains/communities as a whole.

Legal Services
There are three components of the Legal Services. These are:

1. Indigenous Peoples Legal Assistance (IPLA)

The IPRA mandates the NCIP to protect and promote the interest and well-being of the ICCs/IPs with due
regard to their beliefs, customs, traditions and institutions. The same law likewise considers the NCIP as
the primary government agency through which ICCs/IPs can seek government assistance and as the
medium through which such assistance may be extended.
With the aforementioned mandates, the NCIP, through its Central, Regional, and Provincial lawyers and
legal officers, provides legal assistance and services to the ICCs/IPs by representing them before the
regular courts and quasi-judicial bodies, conducting investigations on the basis of complaints filed by the
ICCs/IPs, preparing pleadings and other legal documents for said clients or simply rendering legal opinion
or advisory.
2. Paralegal Training
The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), through its lawyers and legal officers, renders
legal assistance to IP clients as part of the general mandate of the Office to recognize, protect and
promote the rights of our ICCs/IPs
The paralegal training program seeks to educate and inform ICCs/IPs of their rights, the various applicable
remedies they have in case these rights are violated and abused, and the different jurisdiction (courts,
prosecution offices, quasi-judicial and administrative bodies, and other government agencies) where they
may lodge their complaints for such violations.
IPs from communities need to be trained in order that they may assist other members of their communities
in reporting violations of their rights and gathering pieces of evidence, as well as assist NCIP or their
private lawyers on legal concerns brought to them for proper action. Adequate and appropriate training is
a must for paralegals in order that they may be able to assist other members of the community in
accessing justice. Paralegals must not only be aware of the basic provisions of laws relating to IPs but
must also be aware of their roles and limitations in assisting people. They must also be trained on keeping
records and be provided exposure to various government agencies so that they are able to help others
approach these agencies.
3. Documentation of Customary Laws
The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997 or Republic Act No. 8371 provides for the primacy of
customary laws and practices in resolving disputes. Section 65 of IPRA provides that ,when disputes
involve ICCs/IPs, customary laws and practices shall be used to resolve the dispute.
Furthermore, Section 63 of the same law states that customary laws, traditions and practices of the
ICCs/IPs of the land where the conflict arises shall be applied first with respect to property rights, claims
and ownership, hereditary succession and settlement of land dispute.
Several administrative orders and guidelines of the NCIP also emphasize the importance and primacy of
customary laws in resolving disputes involving ICCs/IPs.
It essential to undertake the documentation of customary laws not only for the sake of documentation and
preservation, but in order to have a full understanding of these laws and practices, and to have ready and
available resources in resolving disputes brought before the NCIP. Thus, considering the importance of
customary laws, the NCIP is tasked to undertake the documentation of customary laws.

Adjudication Services
The IPRA mandates the NCIP, acting through its Regional Hearing Offices (RHOs) and the
Commission En Banc (CEB) and in the exercise of its quasi-judicial powers, to resolve all claims and disputes
involving rights of ICCs/IPs, subject to the provisions of the IPRA and its implementing Rules, and other
regulations, as well as, pertinent jurisprudence. With the aforementioned mandate, the NCIP, through its RHOs
and CEB reviews cases submitted before it for adjudication, as a quasi-judicial tribunal, and after due
proceedings and hearings, resolves the issues raised for adjudication.

FEATURED LINKS FACEBOOK

BIDS YOUTUBE
IP GROUPS
TWITTER
RESOURCES

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

All content is in the public domain unless otherwise stated.

ABOUT GOVPH GOVERNMENT LINKS

Learn more about the Philippine government, its Office of the President
structure, how government works and the people Office of the Vice President
behind it. Senate of the Philippines
House of Representatives
GOV.PH Supreme Court
Open Data Portal Court of Appeals
Official Gazette Sandiganbayan 