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Republic Act No.
8371: The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act
Republic Act no. 8371 s. 1997 also known as the “The Indigenous People’s Rights Act” or (IPRA Law) In
October 1997, then President Fidel V. Ramos signed into law RA 8371, the IPRA. This legislation lays
down the legal framework for addressing indigenous peoples’ poverty. It seeks to alleviate the plight of
the country’s “poorest of the poor” by correcting, by legislative fiat, the historical errors that led to
systematic dispossession of and discrimination against indigenous peoples. The Implementing Rules and
Regulations (IRR) of IPRA were approved on 9 June 1998. The IPRA law enforces the 1987 Constitution’s
mandate that the State should craft a policy “to recognize and promote the rights of indigenous
peoples/ICCs within the framework of national unity and development,” and “to protect the rights of
indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their economic, social and cultural
well-being.”
Key Elements of the Indigenous Peoples Policy
The IPRA provides that development programs, projects, and activities must be developed along the
fourfold agenda of recognition and protection of ancestral domain/land rights, self-governance and
empowerment, cultural integrity, and social justice and human rights.
1) Right to Ancestral Land/Domain
The law restores the rights of indigenous people over their ancestral lands and ancestral domains. The
term ancestral land under the IPRA refers to lands occupied by individuals, families, and clans who are
members of indigenous cultural communities, including residential lots, rice terraces or paddies, private
forests, swidden farms, and tree lots. These lands are required to have been “occupied, possessed, and
utilized” by them or their ancestors “since time immemorial, continuously to the present.” (Section 3 b).
The law also stipulates that the indigenous peoples and their communities have the responsibility to
maintain ecological balance, restore denuded areas, and “adhere to the spirit and intent of the Act.”
2) Right to Self-Governance and Empowerment
The IPRA upholds the right of indigenous peoples to self-governance and empowerment. The IRR further
define the range of the exercise of these rights. These are the right to pursue their economic, social, and
cultural development; to use commonly accepted justice systems, conflict resolution mechanism, peace
building process, and customary laws; to participate in decision making; to maintain and develop
indigenous political structures; to have mandatory representation in policymaking bodies; to determine
their own priorities for development; to establish their tribal barangay (village) and equivalent voting
procedures; and to organize people’s organizations.
Section 3, Part III of the IPRA states that: “The [indigenous peoples] shall, within their communities,
determine for themselves policies, development programs, projects and plans to meet their identified
priority needs and concerns. The [indigenous peoples] shall have the right to accept or reject a certain
development intervention in their particular communities. The indigenous peoples’ decision to accept or
reject a proposed policy, program, or plan shall be assessed in accordance with their development
framework and their value systems for the protection of land and resources.”
3) Right to Cultural Integrity
The IPRA and its IRR put forward procedures and mechanisms for the recognition of indigenous peoples’
right to cultural integrity. They incorporate such provisions as the constitutional and legal framework for
the right to cultural integrity, the conceptual framework for cultural integrity, the specific rights
pertinent thereto, and the procedures for the recognition of these rights, including the right to
indigenous culture, customs, and traditions; right to establish and control educational learning systems;
recognition of cultural diversity; right to name, identity, and history; community intellectual rights;
protection of indigenous sacred places; right to protection of indigenous knowledge; and the right to
science and technology.
4) Social Justice and Human Rights
Recognition of and respect for fundamental human rights are also safeguarded by the IPRA. The law
contains specific provisions that ensure that indigenous peoples, just like other human beings, will enjoy
these rights: the right to life, development, and civil liberties; political rights; freedom of association;
nondiscrimination; equal protection; and right to peace and social justice. The law guarantees
indigenous peoples’ right to basic social services. The indigenous peoples have the right to employment,
vocational training, housing, sanitation, health, social security, infrastructure, transportation, and
communication.

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Republic Act No.

8371: The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act

Key Elements of the Indigenous Peoples Policy

1) Right to Ancestral Land/Domain

2) Right to Self-Governance and Empowerment

3) Right to Cultural Integrity

4) Social Justice and Human Rights

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