Cruz and Europa v. Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources

force, deceit, stealth or as a consequence of government projects or any other voluntary dealings entered into by government and private individuals/corporations, and which are necessary to ensure their economic, social and cultural welfare. It shall include ancestral lands, forests, pasture, residential, agricultural, and other lands, individually owned whether alienable and disposable or otherwise, hunting grounds, burial grounds, worship areas, bodies of water, mineral and other natural resources, and lands which may no longer be exclusively occupied by ICCs/IPs but from which they traditionally had access to for their subsistence and traditional activities, particularly the home ranges of ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic and/or shifting cultivators. [119] Section 5. Indigenous Concept of Ownership-- Indigenous concept of ownership sustains the view that ancestral domains and all resources found therein shall serve as the material bases of their cultural integrity. The indigenous concept of ownership generally holds that ancestral domains are the ICCs/IPs private but community property which belongs to all generations and therefore cannot be sold, disposed or destroyed. It likewise covers sustainable traditional resource rights. [120] Section 7. Rights to Ancestral Domains.--The rights of ownership and possession of ICCs/IPs to their ancestral domains shall be recognized and protected. Such rights shall include: (a) Right of Ownership. - The right to claim ownership over lands, bodies of water traditionally and actually occupied by ICCs/IPs, sacred places, traditional hunting and fishing grounds, and all improvements made by them at any time within the domains; (b) Right to Develop Lands and Natural Resources. - Subject to Section 56 hereof, right to develop, control and use lands and territories traditionally occupied, owned, or used; to manage and conserve natural resources within the territories and uphold the responsibilities for future generations; to benefit and share the profits from allocation and utilization of the natural resources found therein; the right to negotiate the terms and conditions for the exploration of natural resources in the areas for the purpose of ensuring ecological, environmental protection and the conservation measures, pursuant to national and customary laws; the right to an informed and intelligent participation in the formulation and implementation of any project, government or private, that will affect or impact upon the ancestral domains and to receive just and fair compensation for any damages which they may sustain as a result of the project; and the right to effective measures by the government to prevent any interference with, alienation and encroachment upon these rights; x x x (Emphasis supplied.) [121] Section 2, Article XII, CONSTITUTION. [122] TOLENTINO, COMMENTARIES AND JURISPRUDENCE ON THE CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES, Vol. II, p. 42 (1983); see also Articles 427 and 428, Civil Code. [123] Id., at 43. [124] Section 5, R.A. 8371. [125] Ibid. [126] Should be Section 7. The Transcript of Session Proceedings of the deliberations of the Bicameral Conference Committee on National Cultural Communities regarding House Bill No. 9125 refers to Section 8 but the Committee was actually discussing Section 7 on Rights to Ancestral Domains. [127] Transcript of Session Proceedings, Bicameral Conference Committee on National Cultural Communities, October 9, 1997, XIV-2. [128] Sections 7 (b) and Section 57, R.A. 8371.