for decision making and
PHILIPPINE INDIGENOUS
COMMUNITIES
RA 8371
“The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997”
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
THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Chapter 1
● declares that the State shall recognize and
promote the rights of Indigenous Cultural
Communities and Indigenous Peoples.
Chapter 2
● ANCESTRAL DOMAINS
○ all areas generally belonging to
ICCs/IPs (lands, inland waters,
coastal areas, and natural
resources), held under a claim of
ownership, occupied or possessed by
ICCs/IPs since time immemorial,
continuously to the present
● ANCESTRAL LANDS
○ 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
● COMMUNAL CLAIMS
○ refer to claims on land, resources
and rights thereon, belonging to the
whole community within a defined
territory;
● CUSTOMARY LAWS
○ refer to a body of written and/or
unwritten rules, usages, customs
and practices traditionally and
continually recognized, accepted and
observed by respective ICCs/IPs;
● FREE AND PRIOR INFORMED
CONSENT
○ the consensus of all members of the
ICCs/IPs to be determined in
accordance with their respective
customary laws and practices
● INDIGENOUS CULTURAL
COMMUNITY/INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
○ group of people or homogenous
societies identified by self-ascription
and ascription by others,
● INDIGENOUS POLITICAL STRUCTURES
○ organizational and cultural
leadership systems, institutions,
relationships, patterns and processes
participation, identified by ICCs/IPs
● INDIVIDUAL CLAIMS
○ refer to claims on land and rights
thereon which have been devolved
to individuals, families and clans
● PEOPLE'S ORGANIZATION
○ refers to a private, nonprofit
voluntary organization of members
of an ICC/IP which is accepted as
representative of such ICCs/IPs;
● SUSTAINABLE TRADITIONAL
RESOURCE RIGHTS
○ refer to the rights of ICCs/IPs to
sustainably use, manage, protect
and conserve
Chapter 3
● Provides for rights to ancestral domains.
Ancestral domains shall be the private
property of indigenous peoples; in return,
indigenous peoples shall have the
responsibility of maintaining the ecology
and restoring denuded areas.
Chapter 4
● The right to self-governance and
empowerment. Inter alia, indigenous
peoples shall have the right to use a
common justice system.
Chapter 5
● Sets forth human rights, including freedom
from discrimination against indigenous
peoples and a right to special protection in
times of armed conflict.
Chapter 6
● Provides for the recognition of the cultural
integrity of indigenous peoples, and for their
intellectual property rights with respect to
cultural and religious property.
Chapter 7
● Establish a National Commission on
Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) which shall have
the functions of promoting the interest on
indigenous people. \
Chapter 8
● The Delineation and recognition of ancestral
domains.

THE PEOPLING OF THE PHILIPPINES
● INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE
AUSTRONESIAN REGION -WILLIAM
MEACHAM
● THE MULTIPLE HOMELAND HYPOTHESIS
-BAYER
○ 1st wave - Indonesia to the
Philippines
○ 2nd Movement - Originated from
Indonesia and dispersed
○ 3rd Wave - from Indochina
○ 4th Wave - From Mainland China
● THE MELANESIAN HOMELAND HYPOTHESIS
○ The movement of people originated
from Melanesia around 3,500 BC.
● THE UNIQUE SOUTH CHINA SEA
HOMELAND HYPOTHESIS
○ Through linguistic evidence to
demonstrate the origins of the
movements of people to the
Philippines.
● OTHER THEORIES
○ From South China then proceeded to
the Malay Peninsula moving toward
Borneo and then finally through
Palawan
○ The movement started from
Southeastern China, to Indochina,
Malay Peninsula, then to Borneo,
finally entering the Philippines
through different routes
○ Philippines started in China,
proceeding to Formosa, then to the
Batanes Islands until the group
scattered around the archipelago
and reached as far as Borneo
WHO ARE THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE?
WHY IS THERE A NEED TO DEFINE THEM?
● SELF-IDENTIFICATION
● EASIER FOR THEM TO BE ACCEPTED
● OPPORTUNITY TO BE HEARD OR SEEN
Indigenous
● “Indigen” - natives or original inhabitants
Who are the IP's in the Philippines?
● “Katutubo”
● A group of people or homogenous
societies identified by self-ascription and
ascription by others, who have continuously
lived as an organized community on
communally bounded and defined territory;"
● Those who have, under claims of ownership
since time immemorial, occupied, possessed
and utilized such territories, sharing
common bond of language, customs,
traditions and other distinctive cultural
traits;
● Those who have, through resistance to
political, social and cultural inroads of
colonization, non- indigenous religions and
cultures, become historically differentiated
from the majority of Filipinos;
● Peoples who are regarded as indigenous on
account of their descent from the
populations that inhabited the country at
the time of conquest or colonization, or of
inroads of non- indigenous religions and
cultures, or the establishment of present
state boundaries;
● People who may have been displaced from
their traditional domains or who may have
resettled outside their ancestral domains.
Do you know?
● 12 MILLION IPs
● The indigenous population is about 14% of
the country’s total population.
● 110 Indigenous Groups
RIGHTS OF THE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
IN THE PHILIPPINES
● National Commission on Indigenous Peoples
Administrative Order No. 1 Series of 1998
RULES AND REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8371, otherwise known
as
● “THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS ACT
OF 1997”
FOUR CARDINAL RIGHTS
● Rights to Ancestral Domain
○ Rights of Ownership
○ Right toBenefits
○ Right to Safe and Clean water
○ Right to Stay in Territories and about
being displaced
○ Right to Develop Lands and Natural
Resources
○ Right to Regulate Entry of Migrants
and Other Entities
● Rights to Self Governance and
Empowerment
● Social Justice and Human Right
● Cultural Integrity