Cruz and Europa v. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources

dismal experience of projects in Latin America.[243] The World Bank now seeks to apply its current policy on IPs to some of its projects in Asia. This policy has provided an influential model for the projects of the Asian Development Bank.[244] The 1987 Philippine Constitution formally recognizes the existence of ICCs/IPs and declares as a State policy the promotion of their rights within the framework of national unity and development.[245] The IPRA amalgamates the Philippine category of ICCs with the international category of IPs,[246] and is heavily influenced by both the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169 and the United Nations (UN) Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.[247] ILO Convention No. 169 is entitled the "Convention Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries"[248] and was adopted on June 27, 1989. It is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and many other international instruments on the prevention of discrimination.[249] ILO Convention No. 169 revised the "Convention Concerning the Protection and Integration of Indigenous and Other Tribal and Semi-Tribal Populations in Independent Countries" (ILO No. 107) passed on June 26, 1957. Developments in international law made it appropriate to adopt new international standards on indigenous peoples "with a view to removing the assimilationist orientation of the earlier standards," and recognizing the aspirations of these peoples to exercise control over their own institutions, ways of life and economic development."[250] CONCLUSION The struggle of the Filipinos throughout colonial history had been plagued by ethnic and religious differences. These differences were carried over and magnified by the Philippine government through the imposition of a national legal order that is mostly foreign in origin or derivation.[251] Largely unpopulist, the present legal system has resulted in the alienation of a large sector of society, specifically, the indigenous peoples. The histories and cultures of the indigenes are relevant to the evolution of Philippine culture and are vital to the understanding of contemporary problems.[252] It is through the IPRA that an attempt was made by our legislators to understand Filipino society not in terms of myths and biases but through common experiences in the course of history. The Philippines became a democracy a centennial ago and the decolonization process still continues. If the evolution of the Filipino people into a democratic society is to truly proceed democratically, i.e., if the Filipinos as a whole are to participate fully in the task of continuing democratization,[253] it is this Court's duty to acknowledge the presence of indigenous and customary laws in the country and affirm their co- existence with the land laws in our national legal system. With the foregoing disquisitions, I vote to uphold the constitutionality of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997. [1] Chief Judge, US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School. [2] The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 67, Summer 2000, No. 3, p. 573. [3] Dominium is distinguished from imperium which is the government authority possessed by the state expressed in the concept of sovereignty-- Lee Hong Hok v. David, 48 SCRA 372, 377 [1972].