Teduray and Lambangian tribes secure ancestral land title after 20 years
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The Teduray and Lambangian indigenous communities in the Bangsamoro region of the Philippines secured a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) for 117,101 hectares of land.
The recognition of these rights followed more than two decades of legal battles and administrative hurdles. The communities celebrated the turnover of the title through the Tulak Këgëforor ritual in South Upi, Maguindanao del Sur. Timuay Alim Bandara, a head claimant for the communities, stated that the process began in 2005.
The journey faced significant delays due to jurisdictional complexities between national laws and the former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao framework. Cooperation between the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs (MIPA) eventually helped reconcile overlapping boundaries across 11 municipalities. The new title covers 11 separate parcels of land.
Bandara noted that the community now faces the challenge of organizing residents to protect these scattered parcels from land depletion and unauthorized sales. He also called for increased financial allocations to support the development of ancestral domains within the Bangsamoro region. NCIP Chairperson Nancy Catamco emphasized that the title serves to safeguard the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination.
She noted that while land is often held collectively in indigenous consciousness, the formal title provides a legal basis to take action against those who violate the law.
