Human Rights & Social Sustainability
Ancestral domain
In Philippine law, the territories held by indigenous peoples since time immemorial under native title — recognised as private but communal property that cannot be sold or disposed of.
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Under the Philippines' Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (IPRA, Republic Act 8371, 1997), ancestral domains are the areas belonging to indigenous cultural communities and peoples, held under native title — pre-conquest rights to lands and domains held "as far back as memory reaches". The law treats them as the community's private but communal property belonging to all generations, which cannot be sold, disposed of or destroyed.
References
Definitions of native title, NCIP, sustainable traditional resource rights, time immemorial.
Four bundles of rights; NCIP mandate and functions.
Communal-property framing (IPRA Sec. 5); CADT example; enforcement problems and unauthorised sales.
Overview
What it means
The ancestral domain right is one of IPRA's four bundles of rights (with self-determination, cultural heritage and social justice). Domains are titled through Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title (CADTs) issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP); the concept encompasses not just land but waters, minerals, sacred sites and traditional resource rights.
How it is used
Communities secure CADTs to formalise control — for example a 102,000-hectare Matigsalug title in Mindanao (2003). Ancestral domain recognition shapes consent processes (free, prior and informed consent) for mining, energy and plantation projects, and features in conservation partnerships recognising indigenous stewardship.
Why it matters
Ancestral domain is a leading legal model for recognising indigenous land tenure in national law, relevant wherever commodity supply chains intersect indigenous territories. Implementation is contested: enforcement gaps, ambiguous legal status and economic pressure have led to unauthorised land sales despite the statutory protections.
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