Cruz and Europa v. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources

owner of natural resources over the Philippines after the latter's cession from Spain, the United States saw it fit to allow both Filipino and American citizens to explore and exploit minerals in public lands, and to grant patents to private mineral lands. A person who acquired ownership over a parcel of private mineral land pursuant to the laws then prevailing could exclude other persons, even the State, from exploiting minerals within his property. [134] Although the United States made a distinction between minerals found in public lands and those found in private lands, title in these minerals was in all cases sourced from the State. The framers of the 1935 Constitution found it necessary to maintain the State's ownership over natural resources to insure their conservation for future generations of Filipinos, to prevent foreign control of the country through economic domination; and to avoid situations whereby the Philippines would become a source of international conflicts, thereby posing danger to its internal security and independence.[135] The declaration of State ownership and control over minerals and other natural resources in the 1935 Constitution was reiterated in both the 1973[136] and 1987 Constitutions.[137] Having ruled that the natural resources which may be found within the ancestral domains belong to the State, the Court deems it necessary to clarify that the jurisdiction of the NCIP with respect to ancestral domains under Section 52 [i] of IPRA extends only to the lands and not to the natural resources therein. Section 52[i] provides: Turnover of Areas Within Ancestral Domains Managed by Other Government Agencies. -- The Chairperson of the NCIP shall certify that the area covered is an ancestral domain. The secretaries of the Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Interior and Local Government, and Department of Justice, the Commissioner of the National Development Corporation, and any other government agency claiming jurisdiction over the area shall be notified thereof. Such notification shall terminate any legal basis for the jurisdiction previously claimed. Undoubtedly, certain areas that are claimed as ancestral domains may still be under the administration of other agencies of the Government, such as the Department of Agrarian Reform, with respect to agricultural lands, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources with respect to timber, forest and mineral lands. Upon the certification of these areas as ancestral domain following the procedure outlined in Sections 51 to 53 of the IPRA, jurisdiction of the government agency or agencies concerned over lands forming part thereof ceases. Nevertheless, the jurisdiction of government agencies over the natural resources within the ancestral domains does not terminate by such certification because said agencies are mandated under existing laws to administer the natural resources for the State, which is the owner thereof. To construe Section 52[i] as divesting the State, through the government agencies concerned, of jurisdiction over the natural resources within the ancestral domains would be inconsistent with the established doctrine that all natural resources are owned by the State. C. The provisions of IPRA pertaining to the utilization of natural resources are not unconstitutional. The IPRA provides that indigenous peoples shall have the right to manage and conserve the natural resources found on the ancestral domains, to benefit from and share in the profits from the allocation and utilization of these resources, and to negotiate the terms and conditions for the exploration of such natural resources.[138] The statute also grants them priority rights in the harvesting, extraction, development or exploitation of any natural resources within the ancestral domains.[139] Before the NCIP can issue a certification for the renewal, or grant of any concession, license or lease, or for the perfection of any production-sharing agreement the prior informed written consent of the indigenous peoples concerned must be obtained.[140] In return, the indigenous peoples are