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Indigenous Filipinos During American Colonization Period

The document discusses the impact of American colonialization and subsequent Philippine laws on indigenous populations. During the colonial period, laws deprived indigenous groups of their ancestral lands and marginalized them. Later laws under the Philippine government retained this framework and further dispossessed indigenous peoples of their domains, though some recognition of their rights was gained in the 1987 Constitution. However, issues around land claims and resource extraction on ancestral lands continue to affect indigenous communities negatively.

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Howell Aragon
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571 views5 pages

Indigenous Filipinos During American Colonization Period

The document discusses the impact of American colonialization and subsequent Philippine laws on indigenous populations. During the colonial period, laws deprived indigenous groups of their ancestral lands and marginalized them. Later laws under the Philippine government retained this framework and further dispossessed indigenous peoples of their domains, though some recognition of their rights was gained in the 1987 Constitution. However, issues around land claims and resource extraction on ancestral lands continue to affect indigenous communities negatively.

Uploaded by

Howell Aragon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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INDIGENOUS FILIPINOS

DURING AMERICAN
COLONIZATION PERIOD
• The American colonialization of the Philippines institutionalized
the distinction among peoples in the country into mainstream
Christian/Muslim and peripheral tribal/minority/ indigenous
populations. Through laws, the tribal/ minority/indigenous
communities were deprived of the right to their ancestral
domains. Through so-called “development” activities, they were
dispossessed of the land they till for their livelihood. Their
marginalization, dispossession and other forms of injustices
continued long after colonial rule had gone.
U.S Colonialism
• The U.S. colonial government kept the Regalian Doctrine and implemented a series of land laws to govern the
so-called “public lands” (previously lands of the Spanish crown). It wanted uncultivated and unoccupied public
lands that could be classified as agricultural lands to be distributed to those who wanted to use them – U.S.
citizens included. These “uncultivated, unoccupied public lands” covered the ancestral domains of indigenous
peoples. The Public Land Act of 1902 governed the disposition of the lands of the “public domain.” Claimants
could apply for homestead, or buy or lease, or confirm titles (acquired during the Spanish era) to the land. A
corporation or association could lease or buy up to 1,024 hectares of land. This law had a provision regarding
designation of “any tract or tracts of the public domain for the exclusive use of non-Christian natives,” by which
each member could apply up to four hectares of land for his own use. The same provision declared null and void
any conveyance or transfer of right to land by the non-Christian natives (including “sultans, datus, or other chiefs
of the so-called non-Christians tribes“) if they were not authorized by either the previous Spanish colonial
government or the U.S. colonial government. The 1902 Land Registration Act No. 496 proclaimed that all lands
were subject to a land title system and gave power to the government to issue proofs of title over a piece of land
to legitimate claimants. The 1903 Philippine Commission Act No. 178 classified all unregistered land as
belonging to the public domain and that the State alone had the power to classify and use it. The 1905 Mining
Act gave the American colonialists the right to mine public lands.
Other laws allowed big American agricultural corporations to access the fertile lands of Mindanao, belonging to
indigenous peoples, and to establish vast agricultural plantations.
Postcolonial Philippines
• The effect of the U.S. land laws continued after the Philippines
became an independent state in 1946. While many of these
laws were subsequently amended by the Philippine legislature,
they retained their basic objectives and features. It was in the
1987 Constitution that, while keeping the Regalian Doctrine,
“the rights of indigenous cultural communities within the
framework of national unity and development ” were
recognized, and t he autonomous regions of Muslim Mindanao
and in the Cordilleras were created.
• IPRA initiated the new era of settling land claims, this time by the indigenous
peoples in relation to their ancestral domains. But the establishment of such
claims did not always end their land problems. Another law was enacted two
years before that affected the claims of indigenous communities to land
where minerals exist. The Philippine Mining Act of 19957 was enacted with
the full recognition that ancestral lands would be affected. It defines ancestral
lands, provides that such lands would not be opened for mining operations
“without the prior consent of the indigenous cultural community concerned,”
and in case the community gives its consent “royalty payment, upon
utilization of the minerals shall be agreed upon by the parties.” While these
provisions recognized the right to land of the indigenous peoples, actual
application of the law adversely affected their communities. Additionally, the
1992 National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act, meant to
protect endangered plants and animals, challenges the social, political, and
cultural systems of indigenous peoples.

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