Natural Resources

Saint Louis University
School of Law
Baguio City

The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act: Its Provisions, Implementation and Effectiveness

Submitted by:
Arios, Diero Thomas
Dinos, Aurea Valerie
Manzano, Ranieri
Paraan, Brian Jonathan
Vehemente, Joseph Harvey
Submitted to:
Atty. Jennifer Asuncion
Introduction

Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous People are found in various places and are one of the most marginalized groups in the world. With the Philippines as a country which has multiple Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous People, their rights and subsequently their obligations pursuant to their right to self-determination. In 1987 the Philippines adopted a new Constitution which provided, as a State Policy, found in Article II, Section 22 that “The State recognizes and promotes the rights of indigenous cultural communities within the framework of national unity and development.” Pursuant to this state policy the Congress of the Philippines passed Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act which provided for the rights of the Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous People in the Philippines. This paper aims to ascertain whether the rights of these Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous People are properly respected and to see the effect of Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous People Rights act on the Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous People themselves, the rest of the Philippine population, and the Government of the Philippines.

International Standards for Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples

Worldwide there are around 300-500 million indigenous people and all share the common characteristic that all of them are deeply spiritually attached to their ancestral lands and that they are stewards thereof. This spiritual attachment stems from the fact that they identify themselves mainly through there genealogical descent from their ancestral lands and that as stewards of the

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