Cruz and Europa v. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources

You ask if we own the land. . . How can you own that which will outlive you? Only the race own the land because only the race lives forever. To claim a piece of land is a birthright of every man. The lowly animals claim their place; how much more man? Man is born to live. Apu Kabunian, lord of us all, gave us life and placed us in the world to live human lives. And where shall we obtain life? From the land. To work (the land) is an obligation, not merely a right. In tilling the land, you possess it. And so land is a grace that must be nurtured. To enrich it and make it fructify is the eternal exhortation of Apu Kabunian to all his children. Land is sacred. Land is beloved. From its womb springs ...life. - Macli-ing Dulag, Chieftain of the Kalinga Tribe (quoted in Ponciano L. Bennagen, "Tribal Filipinos" in Indigenous View of Land and the Environment, ed. Shelton H. Davis, the World Bank Discussion Papers, No. 188, pp. 71-72.) It is established doctrine that a statute should be construed whenever possible in harmony with, rather than in violation of, the Constitution.[1] The presumption is that the legislature intended to enact a valid, sensible and just law and one which operates no further than may be necessary to effectuate the specific purpose of the law.[2] The challenged provisions of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) must be construed in view of such presumption of constitutionality. Further, the interpretation of these provisions should take into account the purpose of the law, which is to give life to the constitutional mandate that the rights of the indigenous peoples be recognized and protected. The struggle of our indigenous peoples to reclaim their ancestral lands and domains and therefore, their heritage, is not unique. It is one that they share with the red-skinned "Indians" of the United States, with the aborigines of Australia, the Maori of New Zealand and the Sazmi of Sweden, to name a few. Happily, the nations in which these indigenous peoples live all have enacted measures in an attempt to heal an oppressive past by the promise of a progressive future. Thus has the international community realized the injustices that have been perpetrated upon the indigenous peoples. This sentiment among the family of nations is expressed in a number of documents, the most recent and most comprehensive of which is the Draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which was adopted by the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities by its resolution on August 26, 1994. Among the rights recognized by the UN Draft is the restitution of lands, territories and even the resources which the indigenous peoples have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, occupied, used or damaged without the free and informed consent of the indigenous peoples. A Historical Backdrop on the Indigenous Peoples The term "indigenous" traces its origin to the Old Latin word indu, meaning "within." In the sense the term has come to be used, it is nearer in meaning to the Latin word indigenus, which means "native."[3] "Indigenous" refers to that which originated or has been produced naturally in a particular land, and has not been introduced from the outside.[4] In international law, the definition of what constitutes "indigenous peoples" attains some degree of controversy. No definition of the term "indigenous peoples" has been adopted by the United Nations (UN), although UN practice has been guided by a working definition in the 1986 Report of UN Special Rapporteur Martinez Cobo:[5] Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sections of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sections of society and are determined to preserve, develop and