Indigenous folk buy more time

Indigenous Filipinos will be given another 20 years to have their ancestral lands registered in their names under a bill approved on third and final reading in the House and forwarded to the Senate.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said on Sunday that if the Senate approves House Bill No. 3747, the indigenous people would have until 2037 to secure titles to their lands, extending the deadline of 2017 set under Republic Act No. 8371, or The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997.

“RA 8371 is a landmark legislation intended to address the concerns of cultural communities and indigenous people throughout the country,” Rodriguez said.

Under Section 12 of RA 3747, individual members of cultural communities who have been in continuous possession and occupation of individually–owned ancestral lands by themselves or through their predecessors-in-interest for a period of not less than 30 years, shall have the option to secure the title to their ancestral lands under the provisions of Commonwealth Act No. 141 as amended, or Land Registration Act No. 496.