MAGUINDANAO DEL SUR, Philippines – Some died before they could see it. Others nearly lost hope.
After more than two decades of legal battles, bureaucratic delays and relentless struggle, the Teduray and Lambangian indigenous communities in the Bangsamoro region have secured formal recognition of 117,101 hectares of ancestral land — a hard-won victory that now leaves them with another fight: protecting it for generations to come.
The turnover of the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT), covering 11 separate parcels, was marked by the traditional Tulak Këgëforor ritual in South Upi, Maguindanao del Sur, where most members of the two communities live. The gathering on Friday, October 23, reaffirmed their shared identity and their resolve to preserve their ancestral homeland.
The Constitution and the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act protect indigenous communities’ rights to their ancestral lands, which are held collectively for present and future generations. A CADT formally recognizes these rights.
Ancestral domains generally cannot be sold to “outsiders,” and development projects are subject to requirements for free, prior and informed consent from the affected communities, which are collectively have the right over the lands.
Timuay Alim Bandara, reflecting on the decades-long journey, emphasized that the achievement belongs to the younger generation.
“Dahil sa inyo, itong ginagawa natin… hindi para sa mga matatanda kundi para sa inyo na mga kabataang Teduray at Lambangian,” Bandara said during the gathering, underscoring the duty of safeguarding the document and the physical land for future generations.
(What we are doing here is because of you… not for the elders, but for you, the young Teduray and Lambangian people.)
Organized in collaboration with the Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG), the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and other relevant government agencies, the event drew together tribal leaders in the region, local executives, and national officials.
Two-decade journey
The path to recognition officially began on August 26, 2005, when the Teduray, Lambangian, and Dulangan Manobo Ancestral Domain Conference (TLADMADC), represented by Bandara as Timuay Labi and head claimant, filed a petition for recognition, delineation, segregation, and the issuance of a CADT.
The original claim covered approximately 201,850 hectares across the municipalities of Upi, South Upi, and southern portions of Datu Odin Sinsuat, Talayan, Guindulungan, Datu Unsay, Shariff Aguak, and Ampatuan in the Maguindanao area.
The road to recognition was far from easy.
Bandara traced the formal processing roots back to August 12, 1996, under a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) administrative order. However, due to administrative bottlenecks, the community shifted its processing efforts to the NCIP through the Mamalo Descendants Organization, officially commencing on January 10, 2005.
Jurisdictional complexities and legal overlaps between national laws and the former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) framework created significant delays. A crucial turning point came with the issuance of Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Resolution Number 38, which initially posed a cease-and-desist challenge before paving the way for renewed institutional cooperation.
Through the NCIP Regional Office XII, the BARMM Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs (MIPA), civil society organizations (CSOs), security sectors, and local governments across 11 municipalities, overlapping boundaries were reconciled, clearing the path for the official turnover.
Heritage protection and resource management
Spanning 117,101 hectares split into 11 parcels, the ancestral domain faces new challenges centered on community organization and resource management. Bandara called on community members and local leaders to foster unity, protect boundary monuments established during the 2016 perimeter surveys, and address pressing issues on the ground, such as land depletion and unauthorized sales.
“Ang pinaka-challenge dito, paano natin ma-organize ang mga tao na nakapaligid doon sa mga parcels na ito… dahil ang 117,000 hectares ay nakalat-kalat sa buong claim natin,” said Bandara, emphasizing that unified stewardship remains vital under the new development direction set by MIPA.
(The biggest challenge is how to organize the people living around these parcels of land, because the 117,000 hectares are scattered across our entire claim.)
Bandara noted that policy issues have now been largely established, with local laws for indigenous peoples in the BARMM ready for implementation.
He pointed to the Fusaka Inged Development Office (FIDO) and the Reservation and Arbitration Board (RAB) as established mechanisms to handle development and resolve land disputes.
Addressing the need for institutional support, Bandara said the BARMM parliament would need to increase financial allocations for MIPA during budget hearings.
“Although we understand that through MIPA there is already an automatic allocation of around P200 million, we think that because this is not the only ancestral domain we are looking at, the budget for developing ancestral domain areas inside the BARMM needs to be increased further,” he added.
Bandara also addressed the challenge of strengthening community-level policies to curb unauthorized land transactions.
“The only problem left is how to really strengthen it at the community level to prevent it…. [The] excuse before: we had nothing to show as titles. So now, with the issuance of CADT, we truly have a legal basis to take legal action against people who violate the law.”
Bandara said governance structures within the Timuay Justice and Governance (TJG) would be strengthened, and communities would be organized for every parcel. He said a higher body may need to keep watch given vastness of the ancestral land.
Leaders’ perspectives
NCIP Chairperson Nancy Catamco emphasized that with the focus now turning toward development, ancestral lands must be guarded more closely than ever.
She pointed out the traditional mindset regarding land titles. “IPs really do not have titles in their consciousness. Because for them, land is not claimed. Land should be used for everyone. That is why the thinking of needing a title came late. Because right now, it’s like waking up one morning and realizing the land is no longer theirs, even though they’ve been there. Then suddenly someone else owns it because they managed to get a title” she narrated.
On addressing investors and development projects covering the claimed lands, Catamco pushed for the Exercise of Priority Rights (EPR), emphasizing the true essence of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).
“It’s more of them exercising their priority rights. Meaning, as long as there is FPIC, what they want to get is their consent to say yes. But the essential function of FPIC is really to safeguard the rights of the ICCs/IPs to their self-determination, not to secure consent from a proponent or a project,” Catamco clarified.
BARMM MIPA Minister Guiamal Campong cited the historical significance of the CADT issuance and said coordination is ongoing to ensure the title is legally solid and incorporated with the EPR framework:
Campong added that his technical team would coordinate directly with the NCIP to explore the Exercise of Priority Rights (EPR). The NCIP also acknowledged MIPA’s crucial role in championing the rights and welfare of Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples in the Bangsamoro.
South Upi Mayor Helen Benito-Padua, herself a decendant of the Teduray-Lambangian indigenous community, was amothional during the gathering.
“To my fellow leaders, especially in South Upi, may we continue to stand by and respect our ancestral land. May we not say that ‘that’s just paper, that’s just you.’ May we show true unity and respect the hardship of the people who fought to get this title”, she said.
“To my fellow Teduray and Lambangian, let us fight for it. Let us not be ashamed of it, ‘let us not sell it or let money sway us.’ Money can be seen while we are alive, but the respect and this title that we can pass on to our descendants cannot be brought back once we ruin it,” she said. – Rappler.com