Ancestral Lands.
Section 1
SECTION 1. Ancestral Lands. — Any provision of law, decree, executive order, rule or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding all unappropriated agricultural lands agricultural lands forming part of the public domain at the date of the approval of this Decree occupied and cultivated by members of the National Cultural Communities for at least ten (10) years before the effectivity of this Decree, particularly in the Provinces of Mountain Province, Cagayan, Kalinga-Apayao, Ifugao, Pampanga, Rizal, Palawan, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga del Norte, Bukidnon, and Basilan are hereby declared part of the ancestral lands of these National Cultural Communities and as such these lands are further declared alienable and disposable if such lands are further declared alienable and disposable if such lands have not been earlier declared as alienable and disposable by the Director of Forest Development to be distributed exclusively among members of the National Cultural Communities concerned, as declined under the Constitution and under Republic Act Numbered Eighteen Hundred Eighty-Eight: Provided, however, That lands of the public domain heretofore reserved for settlement purposes under the administration of the Department of Agrarian Reform and other areas reserved for other public or quasi-public purposes shall not be subject to disposition in accordance with the provisions of this Decree: Provided, further, That the Government in the interest of its development program, may establish agro-industrial projects in these areas for the purpose of creating conditions for employment and thus further enhance the progress of the people. For purposes of this Decree, ancestral lands arc lands of the public domain that have been in open, continuous, exclusive and notorious occupation and cultivation by members of the National Cultural Communities by themselves or through their ancestors, under a bona fide claim of acquisition of ownership according to their customs and traditions for a period of at least thirty (30) years before the date of approval of this Decree. The interruption of the period of their occupation and cultivation on account of civil disturbance or force majeure shall not militate against their right granted under this Decree.