22/06/2022
High-Level Policy Discussion DENR-NCIP Related Concerns
22 June 2022
“I would like to point out that the concept of Native Title whereby Ancestral Lands and Ancestral Domains are considered private property, all in common among our IPs and have never been part of public lands, therefore, in the present situation, it so happens that certain areas classified as or claimed to be forest land, that is also because IPRA was enacted in 1997 and NCIP is playing a catch-up role. Mahaba ang lead time ng DAR at DENR sa pagtitulo ng mga lupa, but it doesn’t mean that the Ancestral Domain/Native Title concept has been overtaken by events, although belated recognized, retroacts back to the time since time immemorial.
The concept of Native Title does not surrender, does not give up the claim that the Ancestral Lands and Ancestral Domains have long been private property owned communally by our ICCs/IPs since time immemorial.
Dir. Caesar M. Ortega
NCIP-Ancestral Domains Office
High-Level Policy Discussion DENR-NCIP Related Concerns
22 June 2022
"I would like to point out that under the concept of Native Title, Ancestral Lands and Ancestral Domains are considered private property, owned in common by the IPs, and thus, have never been part of public lands. Therefore, in the present situation, it so happens that certain areas have been classified as, or claimed to be, forest land. This is so, because IPRA was enacted only in 1997 and NCIP is playing a catch-up role. Mahaba ang lead time ng DAR at DENR sa pagtitulo ng mga lupa, but it doesn’t mean that the Ancestral Domain/Native Title concept has been overtaken by events. Although belatedly recognized, it retroacts back to the time the IPs’ ancestors became the owners of the land or “since time immemorial”.
The concept of Native Title does not surrender or give up the claim that Ancestral Lands and Ancestral Domains have long been private property owned communally by our ICCs/IPs since time immemorial, even if in the meantime, said lands have been classified as public lands, simply because they could’ve never been validly classified as such, considering that they were already owned privately by the IPs long before the Spaniards came and long before the establishment of the Philippine Government."
Dir. Caesar M. Ortega
NCIP-Ancestral Domains Office