Customary Laws, Ancestral Land Titling and the NCIP’s Quasi-Judicial Powers

The IPRA recognizes the customary laws and practices of the indigenous peoples as the basis for their judicial and political structures and institutions within their respective domains. Nonetheless, the implementation of titling as well as the performance of the quasi-judicial functions of the NCIP resulted in the strengthening of state powers within indigenous communities, through the NCIP, by consciously or unconsciously incorporating indigenous peoples within the framework of state legal system. This essay discusses how customary laws are incorporated or not into the two critical tasks of the NCIP, namely, ancestral domain titling and quasi-judicial functions. It argues that while ancestral domain titling and the NCIP’s performance of quasi-judicial functions provide some benefits to the indigenous peoples, especially in granting a clear written evidence for their ownership and making legal services available to the indigenous peoples, both of these developments likewise manifest the increasing state penetration into the lives of the indigenous peoples.