Lifting of the Collection of Real Property Taxes, Special Levies and Other Forms of Exaction Within Lands Certified as Ancestral Domain Areas

April 12, 2004 DILG MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 041-04 TO : All Provincial Governors, City Mayors, Municipal Mayors, Provincial Vice-Governors, City Vice-Mayors, Municipal Vice-Mayors, DILG Regional Directors and Others Concerned SUBJECT : Lifting of the Collection of Real Property Taxes, Special Levies and Other Forms of Exaction Within Lands Certified as Ancestral Domain Areas Section 5, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution declares the following: "The State, subject to the provisions of this Constitution and national development policies and programs, shall protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their economic, social, and cultural well-being. The Congress may provide for the applicability of customary laws governing property rights or relations in determining the ownership and extent of ancestral domain." Pursuant to this constitutional mandate, the 10th Congress, on 29 October 1997, approved the passage of Republic Act No. 8371, otherwise known as "The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997", to recognize, protect and promote the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples by establishing a National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and establishing implementing mechanisms therefor. The said law defined what areas are considered part of the so-called Ancestral Domains : Refer to all areas belonging to ICCs/IPs comprising lands, inland waters, coastal areas, natural resources therein, held under a claim of ownership, occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs, by themselves or through their ancestors, communally or individually since time immemorial, continuously to the present except when interrupted by war, force majeure , or displacement by force, deceit, stealth or as a consequence of government projects or any voluntary dealings entered into by government and private individuals/corporations, and which are necessary to ensure their economic, social and cultural welfare. It shall include ancestral lands, forests pastures, residential, agricultural, and other lands individually owned whether alienable and disposable or otherwise, hunting grounds, burial grounds, worship areas, bodies of water, mineral and other natural resources, and lands which may no longer be exclusively occupied by ICCs/IPs but from which they traditionally had access to for their subsistence and traditional activities, particularly the home ranges of ICCs/IPs who are still nomadic and/or shifting cultivators. Cognizant of the fact that not all are aware, specially elective local officials and functionaries, on the said constitutional mandate relative to the Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples and the existence of the law on the rights of the Indigenous Peoples, much less its provision on the exemption of ancestral domain from all forms of exaction, the Indigenous Peoples' Sectoral Council of the NATIONAL ANTI-POVERTY COMMISSION, pursuant to its RESOLUTION NO. 005, Series of 2004, as approved 12 February 2004, deemed it necessary to remind all concerned of the provision of Chapter 8, Section 60 of Republic Act No. 8371, otherwise known as "The Indigenous People's Rights (IPRA) Act of 1997," to wit: "SEC. 60. Exemption from Taxes . All lands certified to be ancestral domains shall be exempt from real property taxes, special levies, and other forms of exaction except such portion of the ancestral domains as are actually used for large-scale agriculture, commercial forest plantation and residential purposes or upon titling by private persons: Provided, That all exaction shall be used to facilitate the development and improvement of the ancestral domains." In view thereof, all concerned local officials are hereby enjoined to see to it that the mandate of the aforecited law is effectively complied with. All DILG Regional Directors are likewise hereby directed to cause the immediate and widest dissemination of this Memorandum Circular to all local government units within their regional assignments. Likewise, the DILG Regional Offices shall submit a report relative to the LGU's compliance to this directive, to reach the Office of the Secretary, through the Bureau of Local Government Supervision, not later than 30 April 2004 for the initial report, and not later than the 15th of the last month of every quarter thereafter. For the guidance of all concerned. aCSEcA (SGD.) JOSE D. LINA, JR. Secretary Department of Interior and Local Government