Application of the IPRA Law

FACTS OF THE CASE

The Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral

Domain (MOA-AD) brought about by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) as an aspect of Tripoli Agreement of Peace in 2001 is scheduled to be signed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

 This Memorandum prepared by the joint efforts of the

Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) Peace Panel and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Peace Panel, was merely a codification of consensus points reached between both parties and the aspirations of the MILF to have a Bangsamoro homeland.
This agreement was petitioned by the Province of North

Cotabato for Mandamus and Prohibition with Prayer for the Issuance of Writ of Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order.

The agreement mentions "Bangsamoro Juridical Entity" (BJE) to which it grants the authority and jurisdiction over the Ancestral Domain and Ancestral Lands of the Bangsamoro; authority and jurisdiction over all natural resources within internal waters.

The agreement is composed of two local statutes: The Organic Act for Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (R.A. No. 9054) The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (R.A No. 8371)

ISSUE
Whether by signing the MOA, the Government of the

Republic of the Philippines would be binding itself: To concede to or recognize the claim of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front for ancestral domain in violation of Republic Act No. 8371 (THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES RIGHTS ACT OF1997)

HELD
With

respect to the indigenous cultural communities/indigenous people (ICCs/IPs) have, under the IPRA (THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES RIGHTS ACT), the right to participate fully at all levels of decision-making in matters which may affect their rights, lives and destinies. The MOA-AD, (The Memorandum of Agreement on the Ancestral Domain), an instrument recognizing ancestral domain, failed to justify its noncompliance with the clear-cut mechanisms ordained in said Act which provides the observance of the free and prior informed consent of the indigenous cultural communities/indigenous people.

 The IPRA does not grant the Executive Department or

any government agency the power to delineate and recognize an ancestral domain claim by mere agreement or compromise. The IPRA, it lays down the prevailing procedure for the delineation and recognition of ancestral domains. The MOA-ADs manner of delineating the ancestral domain of the Bangsamoro people is a clear departure from that procedure. The Memorandum just provides for: [t]he Bangsamoro homeland and historic territory refer to the land mass as well as the maritime, terrestrial, fluvial and alluvial domains, and the aerial domain, the atmospheric space above it, embracing the Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan geographic region.

 In proceeding to make a sweeping declaration on

ancestral domain, without complying with the IPRA, which is cited as one of the term of reference (TOR) of the MOA-AD, the government of the Republic of the Philippines clearly went out of bounds of its authority.

SECTION 51. Delineation and Recognition of Ancestral Domains.

Self-delineation

shall be the guiding principle in the identification and delineation of ancestral domains. As such, the ICCs/IPs concerned shall have a decisive role in all the activities pertinent thereto. The Sworn Statement of the Elders as to the scope of the territories and agreements/pacts made with neighboring ICCs/IPs, if any, will be essential to the determination of these traditional territories. The Government shall take the necessary steps to identify lands which the ICCs/IPs concerned traditionally occupy and guarantee effective protection of their rights of ownership and possession thereto. Measures shall be taken in appropriate cases to safeguard the right of the ICCs/IPs concerned to land which may no longer be exclusively occupied by them, but to which they have traditionally had access for their subsistence and traditional activities, particularly of ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic and/or shifting cultivators.