FORMER PRESIDENT Fidel Ramos signed R.A. 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) into law in 1997, becoming the first comprehensive bill to recognize the rights of the country’s indigenous peoples (IPs). Notable highlights include rights of social justice, self-governance and empowerment, and cultural integrity.
The bill serves as somewhat of a peace treaty between the IPs and the government after centuries of conflict between legislation and IPs cultural traditions. ending the long fight to have IPs’ rights represented within law.
Colonial roots
The disregard of IPs’ rights to land and land tenure originated during the Spanish colonization. This period introduced the concepts of formal land ownership and agricultural production to Filipino islanders in 1523, leading to the basic principles of land laws in the Philippines. The infamous Regalian Doctrine was also implemented then, stating that by conquest all lands belonged to the sovereign. This dismantled IPs’ rights to land and land tenure. By 1894, the Maura Law, the last land law implemented by Spain, stated any lands not titled in 1880 “will revert back to the state,” and all untitled lands were deemed forfeited afterwards. This system allowed for the legal exploitation of resources in public domains and cemented the colonizers’ hold on the country’s resources—up until the American period.
Aside from the aforementioned laws, industrialization of the IPs’ native lands and the beginning of mining operations further diminished the IPs’ resources. For instance, the Mining Act of 1905 allowed for the acquisition of public land—including IPs territories—for mining purposes. These changes refuted land ownership and rendered IPs non-existent, leading to cases of abuse and land grabbing against IPs. Only the 1909 Carino v. Insular Government case, which tackled the use of indigenous land for public and military purposes, ruled in favor of indigenous culture communities in 1909 due to the recognition of IPs’ rights. This marked the beginning for representation of IPs within the law.
Tracing back ancestral domain rights Expert Mechanism Member on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a council in the United Nations, Jose Mencio Molintas concluded “…the contradiction between the state law and the customary law remains persistent. History has proven that the state’s attempts to enforce its own legal system in the guise of “development” have displaced the indigenous peoples – the Cellophil Resource Corporation, the Chico dam, the Ambuklao, and Binga dam”
Progressive law
IPRA was meant to shift focus on IP’s rights rather than land. In relation to the law itself, IPRA conflicts with current land laws due to the principles of former land laws of previous administrations. Due to this, previous administrations have failed to show its support for the law and even challenged its constitutionality. However, there are benefits for the current administration to support the bill. For instance, the New Zealand Agency for International Development has supplied millions of dollars in revenue to the Philippine government to support pro-IP policies. While the rights of social justice, empowerment, and cultural integrity are now written on paper, these promises are yet to be fulfilled. Without proper implementation, IPs remain disadvantaged and isolated from Philippine society.
