PHILIPPINES Law and Practice Contributed by: Patricia A O Bunye and Rafael Raymundo A Evangelista, Cruz Marcelo & Tenefrancia
of national unity and development”. Section 16 of the Mining Act states that “no ancestral land shall be opened for mining operations without prior consent of the indigenous cultural commu - nity concerned”. This provision is complement - ed by the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA), or Republic Act No 8371, which was enacted to recognise and promote the rights of ICCs/IPs by establishing mechanisms that will take into consideration their customs, traditions, values, beliefs and rights to their ancestral domains or ancestral lands. Therefore, ICCs/IPs are giv - en priority rights in the harvesting, extraction, development or exploitation of natural resources within their ancestral domains. An ancestral domain covers all areas owned, occupied or possessed by ICCs/IPs, including lands, inland waters, coastal areas and natural resources therein, specifically ancestral lands, forest, pasture, 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 that may no longer be exclusively occupied by ICCs/IPs but to which they traditionally had access for their subsistence and traditional activities. Therefore, before any issuance, renewal or grant of any concession, licence or lease, or before entering into any mineral agreement with the government, an applicant must obtain a Cer - tificate of Non-Overlap (CNO) or a Certification Precondition (CP) from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), which is the main agency tasked with enforcing the provisions of the IPRA. The CNO attests to the fact that the area affected does not overlap with any ances - tral domain, while the CP attests to the grant of FPIC by the ICCs/IPs concerned.
FPIC means the consensus of all members of the ICCs/IPs to be determined in accordance with their respective customary laws and practices, free from any external manipulation, interference and coercion, and obtained after fully disclosing the intent and scope of the activity, in a language and process that is understandable to the com - munity. It is manifested through a Memorandum of Agreement containing the relevant terms and conditions, including the benefits to be received by the ICCs/IPs. The amount of royalty payment of not less than 1% of the gross output is subject to the agreement of the contractor and the ICCs. The royalty shall be kept in trust for the socio- economic wellbeing of the ICCs. If a project proceeds without complying with the requirements of the IPRA for CP and securing of their FPIC, the IPRA provides that the NCIP, motu proprio or upon the instance of the ICCs/ IPs, shall have the right to stop and suspend the project. 2.6 Community Development Agreement for Mining Projects Community development agreements are not mandatory. However, investors are required to prepare an SDMP and to implement a CDP in connection with the project for the benefit of the local communities. The CDP shall be developed in consultation and in partnership with the host communities. 2.7 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Guidelines and Regulations The Philippine Securities and Exchange Com - mission (SEC) requires Publicly Listed Compa - nies (PLCs) to submit sustainability reports (SRs) disclosing material information gathered after undergoing a materiality assessment process.
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