Registration under the

Indigenous Peoples Rights

Act
What is IPRA
• RA No. 8371
• October 29, 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.”
Constitutional Provisions
• Section 2, Article II
• “The State recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural
communities within the framework of national unity and development.”
• Section 5, Article XII
• The State, subject to the provisions of this Constitution and natial
development policies and programs shall protect the rights of indigenous
cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their economic, social,
and cultural well-being.
• Section 6, Article XIII
• The State shall establish a special agency for disabled persons for their
rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance, and the integration into the
mainstream of society
• Section 17, Article XIV
• The State shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights of indigenous
cultural communities to preserve and develop their cultures, traditions, and
institutions. It shall consider these rights in the formulation of national plans
and policies
Cruz v. Secretary of DENR
• Petitioners assailed the constitutionality of the IPRA on the ground
that they amount to an unlawful deprivation of the State’s ownership
over lands of public domain as well as the minerals and other natural
resources therein, in violation of the Regalian doctrine embodied in
Section 2, Article XII.
Definition of Terms
• Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICC/IPs)
• Group of people 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
• Ancestral Domains
• All areas generally belonging to ICCs/Ips compromising lands, inland waters, coastal
areas, and natural resources, held under a claim of ownership, occupied or
possessed by ICC/IPs
• Ancestral Lands
• Land occupied, possessed and utilized by individuals, families and clans who are
members of the ICCs/Ips since time immemorial
Indigenous concept of ownership
• The IPRA recognizes the existence of the ICC/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
• Ancestral lands and domains are not deemed part of the lands of the
public domain but are private lands belonging to ICCs/IPs who have
actually occupied, possessed and utilized their territories under claim
of ownership since time immemorial
• Native title refers to pre-conquest rights which, as far back as memory
reaches, have been held under claim of private ownership by ICC/IPs
• Native title presumes that the land is private and was never public
• The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has the
authority to issuer certificates of ancestral domain title (CADT) or
certificates of ancestral land title (CALT)
• The recording of CADT and CALT in the Office of the Register of Deeds
does not result in the issuance of Torrens certificate of title
Modes of Acquisition
• The rights of ICC/IPs to their ancestral domains and ancestral lands
may be acquired in two modes:
• By native title
• By Torrens title under the Public Land Act (CA No. 141) of the Property
Registration Decree (PD No. 1529)
Requirements (Sec. 12)
• The applicant is a member of an indigenous cultural group;
• He must have been in possession of an individually-owned ancestral
land for not less than thirty (30) years immediately preceding the
approval of the Act on October 29,1997; and
• By operation of law (IPRA), the land is already classified as alienable
and disposable land (A and D), even if it has a slope of 18% or over,
hence, there is no need to submit a separate certification that the
land has been classified as “A and D”
Transfer of land or property rights
• The right of ownership and possession of the ICCs/IPs to their
ancestral lands shall be recognized and protected, and may be
transferred subject to the following limitations:
• Only to members of the same ICCs/IPs;
• In accord with customary laws and traditions; and
• Subject to the right of redemption of the ICCs/IPs for a period of fifteen (15)
years if the land was transferred to a non-member
• Ancestral domains belong to all generations and therefore cannot be
sold, disposed or destroyed
Forms and contents of the
application for registration
• Section 15 requires that the application for land registration shall be
in writing, signed by the applicant or the person duly authorized in his
behalf, and sworn to before any officer authorized to administer oaths
for the province or city where the application was actually signed. If
there is more than one (1) applicant, the applicant shall be signed and
sworn to by and in behalf of each
• It shall provide information for the following:
a) Full description of the land as evidenced by a survey plan duly approved by
the Director of Lands, surveyor’s certificate, and technical description;
• Citizenship and civil status of the applicant, whether single or married, and, if
married, the name of the wife or husband, and, if the marriage has been
legally dissolved, when and how the marriage relation terminated;
• Full names and addresses of all occupants of the land and those of the
adjoining owners, if known, and, if not known, it shall state the extent of the
search made to find them;
• Assessed value of the land and the buildings and improvements thereon;
• Whether or not there are mortgages or encumbrances of any kind
whatsoever affecting the land, or any other person having any interest
therein, legal or equitable, or in possession, thereof;
• The manner by which the applicant has acquired the land;
• Names of all occupants of the land, if any;
• Original muniments of title and other related documents supporting
applicant’s claim of ownership; and,
• If the land is bounded by a public or private way or road, whether or not the
applicant claims any and what portion of the land within the limits of the way
or road, and whether the applicant desires to have the line of the way or road
determined.
What and where to file
• Section 17, PD 1529
• The application for land registration shall be filed with the RTC of the province
or city where the land is situated. The applicant shall file together with the
application all original muniments of titles or copies thereof and a survey plan
of the land approved by the Lands Management Bureau
• Section 18, PD 1529
• An application may include two or more parcels of land belonging to the
applicant/ s provided they are situated within the same province or city
Amendments
• Amendments to the application including joinder, substitution, or
discontinuance as to parties may be allowed by the court at any stage
of the proceedings upon just and reasonable terms
• Amendments which shall consist in a substantial change in the
boundaries or an increase in area of the land applied for or which
involve the inclusion of an additional land shall be subject to the same
requirements of publication and notice as in an original application.
(Section 19)
Dealings with land pending original
registration
• After the filing of the application and before the issuance of the
decree of registration, the land may still be the subject of dealings in
whole or in part, in which case the interested party shall present to
the court the pertinent instruments together with a subdivision plan
approved by the Director of Lands in case of transfer of portions
thereof, and the court, after notice to the parties, shall order such
land registered subject to the conveyance or encumbrance created by
said instruments, or order that the decree of registration be issued in
the name of the persons to whom the property has been conveyed