THE National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)-Davao said settlers in ancestral domains in Davao Region are being regulated as reports claim that some members of the indigenous tribes are selling portions of the land violating the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997 or the Ipra Law.
In an interview with NCIP-Davao regional director lawyer Geroncio Aguio, he said the commission is working closely with its survey and assessment operations among the 156,000 hectares of ancestral domains inside the region against settlers who claim ownership of the land.
"We have to strictly monitor our lands as there are migrants who are regulating their own rules inside the ancestral domains believing that they own it," he said.
As included in Ipra Law, Aguio said settlers are not given the rights to sell any portion of an ancestral domain even with the provision of the Certificate of Occupancy (COO).
The COO, he said, will allow non-tribe members to reside in the area with an agreement not to sell the land area where they are residing nor forge the land title and transfer it to their names.
"Many occupants who said they purchased the land from someone believe that they bought the land legally not knowing that it will never be transferred to their names because the land title is given to the tribe and the government has full records of it," he said.
However, settlers or companies can still use a portion of the land in a sealed agreement with the IP communities and approval from NCIP with the provision that their operations or businesses will not harm nor affect the livelihood of the IPs and the land title is still owned by tribe.
The Ata Tribe has the biggest ancestral domain inside Davao City with 87,000 total hectares while Bagobo Tagabawa Tribe has the smallest land with 2,000 hectares.