“Placing ancestral domain administration under the DENR will only fast-track corporate access to indigenous territories — streamlining plunder, not stopping it."

Placing ancestral domain administration under the DENR will only fast-track corporate access to indigenous territories — streamlining plunder, not stopping it.

CAGAYAN DE ORO — Several Lumad, or Indigenous peoples in Mindanao, expressed opposition to what they described as proposed legislation that threatens their rights to their ancestral lands.

This comes after House Bill (HB) No. 621 seeking for structural reform to the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997 was filed. The bill proposes to transfer the authority to manage ancestral domains from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

It also seeks the creation of an adjudication board that would be tasked with settling disputes related to ancestral lands and domains.

“If it were to be transferred to DENR, the land would possibly be viewed as an economic or resource, not as a sacred land,” JE Datu, a Higaonon woman from Libona, Bukidnon, told Bulatlat in the vernacular.

Datu belongs to the Libona Higaonon Ancestral Domain (LIBHIGAD). For them, their certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) is not just a title; it also symbolizes their culture and identity.

To fast-track corporate access

HB 621 seeks to amend Section 44(e) of the IPRA, removing NCIP’s power to issue CADTs. It proposes that the agency shall only recommend IP representatives to the proposed Ancestral Lands Administration and Adjudication Board (ALAAB) that shall be under the Office of the President.

Under Section 46 of the law, the bill seeks to reorganize the NCIP’s Ancestral Domain Office into the Ancestral Lands Registration and Administration Office (ALRAO) that shall be under the DENR. This office shall be responsible for the identification, delineation, and recognition of ancestral domains.

It also pushes the removal of the NCIP’s power to issue appropriate pre-condition certificates to the grant of permits, leases, and the like to private and corporate entities, including government agencies, for the utilization of ancestral lands and domains. The bill seeks to transfer that function to the proposed ALAAB.

HB 621, a refiled bill, was authored by Camiguin Representative Jurdin Jesus Romualdo, a legislator who proposed a P1,000 budget for NCIP in 2024 for the agency’s alleged failure to address the “supposed illegitimacy” of the Lumad in Camiguin.

Read:‘We exist’ | Lumads express dismay as Camiguin gov’t denied their existence

The measure was filed in June last year due to the alleged proliferation of fraudulent claims on ancestral lands, to name a few. It was referred to the House Committee on Government Reorganization on July 29, 2025, and there was no progress as of this writing.

Davao-based Indigenous rights advocate Jeany Rose Hayahay viewed Romualdo’s proposal as a structural reorganization that would exacerbate the situation.

“Placing ancestral domain administration under the DENR will only fast-track corporate access to indigenous territories — streamlining plunder, not stopping it,” Hayahay, an awarded human rights defender, told Bulatlat.

The proposed adjudication board, she added, offers no improvement, as the majority of proposed members of the body would be composed of officials appointed by the president.

Irregularities

Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Katribu), an alliance of various IP organizations, remains firm with its stance: to abolish the NCIP. For the group, the agency has failed to safeguard the people it swore to protect.

Beverly Longid, Katribu national convener, recounted the alleged manipulated process perpetrated by NCIP in securing free prior and informed consent (FPIC) of concerned IP communities in Apayao and Sierra Madre in favor of companies, as well as the case of the Mamanwa tribe in Mindanao, where the royalty (trust fund) solely for the socio-economic program for the Lumad was used for the operating expenses of NCIP Caraga Region.

In a 2015 report by the Inquirer, alleged evidence of fraud was found in the processing of three CADTs in Baguio City, to which the irregularities were attributed to NCIP officers and employees.

A mining firm aiming for the exploration of more than 3,000 hectares of land in five villages in Dupax del Norte, Nueva Vizcaya, also reportedly holds required permits from DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau and NCIP without consultation from affected residents, including IPs.

“As a Lumad volunteer teacher, I experienced and saw how the NCIP attacked the Lumad, [such as] red-tagging,” Hayahay said, expressing support for the abolition of NCIP.

Read:Groups urge gov’t to prioritize reopening of Lumad schools in Mindanao

Baguio City Representative Mauricio Domogan filed HB 5044 in October last year, which seeks to abolish NCIP and create the Department of Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples. For Longid, the bill just seeks the re-establishment of NCIP under a different name.

The Lumad woman from Bukidnon said that NCIP understands their culture and tradition. But it cannot be denied, she said, that there were lapses on the part of the agency. However, for her, there are ways to correct them.

Review IPRA

Longid, who also serves as chairperson of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact and global coordinator of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation, pointed out that merely amending the IPRA won’t resolve the recurring problem faced by IPs. “As if the DENR is also exemplary in its public service record.”

She sees problematic provisions of the IPRA.

This includes the exemption of Baguio City from implementation of the law since it was proclaimed as land reserved (Section 78), although the Supreme Court ruled that land ownership may still be established as long as the IPs in Baguio, who are governed by the city’s charter, can prove the continuous occupation and possession of the land.

But for city officials, they considered the provision “discriminatory” against Baguio IPs.

The IP alliance also opposed the “tedious and expensive” process of acquiring CADTs, which requires claimants to present at least one authentic document, such as the anthropological data, genealogical surveys, or written accounts of IPs’ customs and traditions, to name a few. This is aside from testimonies of elders or the community under oath.

Longid said this is prone to corruption and may take advantage of unscrupulous individuals.

“Since the implementation of the IPRA, we see more violations than recognition,” Longid told Bulatlat, urging legislators to review the IPRA instead toward its repeal.
Hayahay also called for a genuine framework that recognizes absolute ownership of Indigenous communities to their ancestral domains and natural resources and pushes them to govern their community through their customary laws. (RVO)

The post Indigenous folk say bill reforming IPRA to fast track corporate access to lands appeared first on Bulatlat.

From Bulatlat via This RSS Feed.