QuestionsQuestions (NCIP ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 1, SERIES OF 1998)
It is promulgated pursuant to Section 80 of Republic Act No. 8371 (IPRA) to prescribe the procedures and guidelines for implementing IPRA, facilitating compliance and achieving the Act’s objectives.
Key operating principles include: cultural diversity; consensus and peace-building; cultural integrity; human dignity; subsidiarity/solidarity/total human development; and transparency and capacity building.
Ancestral Domains are all areas generally belonging to ICCs/IPs (including lands, inland waters, coastal areas, and natural resources) claimed by ownership and occupied/possessed since time immemorial, continuously to the present (subject to recognized exceptions), and necessary for ICCs/IPs’ economic, social, and cultural welfare; it includes both currently occupied areas and certain traditional-use areas.
Ancestral Domains cover the broader territory (lands, waters, coastal areas, minerals, natural resources) held communally or individually since time immemorial. Ancestral Lands are specific lands within the domains occupied/possessed/utilized by individuals, families, or clans under individual or traditional group ownership claims.
Native Title refers to pre-conquest rights to lands/domains held under a claim of private ownership by ICCs/IPs, never public lands, presumed held since before the Spanish Conquest. It may be formally recognized through issuance of CADT (for ancestral domains) or CALT (for ancestral lands).
It generally holds that ancestral domains are ICCs/IPs’ private but communal property belonging to all generations; they shall not be sold, disposed of, nor destroyed. The present generation has an inter-generational responsibility to conserve for future generations.
ICCs/IPs have rights of ownership over lands/waters/resources and improvements within ancestral domains, including rights over fruits, to possess, use, consume, exclude, and recover ownership (especially for lands lost through fraud or vitiated consent/unconscionable transfer).
They have the right to control, manage, develop, protect, conserve, and sustainably use natural resources and to equitably benefit from fruits, with priority in development/extraction/utilization/exploitation. They must follow customary laws and, where adopted, ADSDPPs.
ICCs/IPs have the right to be compensated for social/environmental costs. The concerned community should receive existing legal/admin benefits, and NCIP ensures negotiated terms safeguard IP rights. The IRR requires allocation of at least 30% of funds received to the community for development/social services/infrastructure consistent with the ADSDPP; if none exists, NCIP assists in developing a program.
It is subject to customary laws and the ICCs/IPs’ Free and Prior Informed Consent, and must be under a written agreement ensuring (1) a technology transfer program so ICCs/IPs can ultimately manage the area themselves, and (2) no displacement/dislocation of ICCs/IPs due to the project.
No ICCs/IPs shall be relocated without Free and Prior Informed Consent and not through any means other than eminent domain. Relocation is an exceptional measure, generally temporary in cases like force majeure/natural calamities, and ICCs/IPs have a right to return once grounds cease.
Temporary relocation applies as an exceptional measure after exhausting legal remedies and only to avoid loss of lives and safeguard health/safety; it is generally due to force majeure/natural calamities and requires provision of habitable sites/shelter/food/basic services/livelihood and the right to return. Permanent relocation/displacement requires FPIC and, if return is too risky, may include relocation to equal quality/legal status, security of tenure, and compensation for loss/injury/damage.
Entitled claimants include individuals (for death/injuries/property damage), community elders/leaders (for communal structures like burial grounds/worship areas/hunting grounds), or NCIP motu proprio for the community. NCIP must be notified via field office; NCIP or affected ICC/IP with NCIP assistance files the claim with the responsible agency; NCIP ensures due consideration and timely compensation.
Migrants/other entities must first secure express permission from the community council of elders/leaders via consensus/customary processes and FPIC. Activities must be expressly authorized and not inimical to domain development/cultural integrity. ICCs/IPs retain the right to impose penalties for violations per customary laws/Act.
An ECPP is a detailed culture-sensitive program submitted by persons/entities undertaking projects or government offices implementing infrastructure in ancestral domains, stating environmental impacts, control/rehabilitation measures, financial allocations, schedules, compliance guarantees, and monitoring. The Regional Office must conduct preliminary evaluation within 20 working days from receipt, may order revisions/additional requirements, and then endorses it to the Commission with recommendations.
NCIP reviews existing reservations (E.O.s, A.O.s, proclamations) to determine actual use, then takes steps to disestablish the reservation or segregate and reconvey ancestral domains/portions to the concerned ICCs/IPs.