TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session
)
SENATE
S. No. 1253
IS'cnatf
of tlie 
ij
25 AUG 27 A9:i7
RtCEiVcD BV;
Introduced by Senator Loren Legarda
AN ACT
SAFEGUARDING THE TRADITIONAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS 
PEOPLES, RECOGNIZING THEIR COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP OVER 
TRADITIONAL CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS, KNOWLEDGE, AND PRACTICES, 
ESTABLISHING A SYSTEM FOR PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT THEREOF, 
PROVIDING FOR FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT, PRESCRIBING 
PENALTIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED USE, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The Philippines is home to a rich diversity of Indigenous Peoples, each with 
distinct languages, practices, and systems of knowledge passed down through 
generations. These communities are the bearers of invaluable traditional cultural 
heritage—including songs, chants, rituals, crafts, designs, oral histories, and 
ceremonial practices—that are integral not only to their identity and way of life, but 
also to the broader fabric of the Filipino nation.
Republic Act No. 8371, or the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997, 
affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their ancestral domains, self-governance, 
and cultural integrity. However, while the IPRA recognizes cultural rights in principle, 
it lacks specific legal mechanisms to safeguard traditional cultural expressions as forms 
of intellectual property. As a result, many indigenous works have been used, 
commodified, or adapted without proper consent, attribution, or compensation- 
undermining both cultural integrity and communal ownership.


This measure seeks to fill that legal gap. By establishing a framework for the 
recognition, registration, protection, and enforcement of traditional property rights 
over both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, the bill empowers Indigenous 
Peoples to exercise moral and economic rights over their creations. It aligns with global 
standards, including the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity and ongoing 
international dialogues under the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The key features of the bill include:
1. The recognition of communal ownership of traditional cultural property, 
held in perpetuity;
2. The establishment of a national inventory and registration system, 
administered by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts 
(NCCA);
3. The requirement of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) before any 
use, adaptation, or commercialization of protected indigenous cultural 
expressions;
4. The creation of royalty mechanisms to ensure fair and equitable 
compensation for authorized uses;
5. The allowance of non-commercial, respectful educational and cultural 
uses, with safeguards for sacred or restricted items; and
6. The periodic review and updating of the implementing rules and cultural 
classifications, in coordination with IP communities and the NCIP.
This legislative proposal strengthens the legal foundations for cultural justice, 
heritage protection, and indigenous empowerment. It recognizes that traditional 
knowledge systems are not relics of the past, but dynamic, living legacies that must 
be protected and respected in a modern legal framework.
In view of the foregoing consideration, the passage of this bill is earnestly 
sought.
LOREN LEGARDA


TWENTIETH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session
SENATE
1253
^eunie
of tljc gx-trvtar;
25 AUG 27 A9:l7
RECEIVED BY;
S. No.
Introduced by Senator Loren Legarda
AN ACT
SAFEGUARDING THE TRADITIONAL PROPERTY RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS 
PEOPLES, RECOGNIZING THEIR COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP OVER 
TRADITIONAL CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS, KNOWLEDGE, AND PRACTICES, 
ESTABLISHING A SYSTEM FOR PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT THEREOF, 
PROVIDING FOR FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT, PRESCRIBING 
PENALTIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED USE, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, 
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of the 
Philippines in Congress assembled:
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Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "TraditionalProperty
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Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act'.
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Sec. 2. Declaration of Principles and Policies. - It is hereby declared the policy
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of the State to recognize, protect, and promote the traditional cultural heritage of the
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Indigenous Peopies of the Philippines. This includes safeguarding both tangible and
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intangible expressions of their identity, vaiues, knowledge systems, and ways of life,
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and supporting traditional artists and artisans in their contribution to their respective
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ethnic cultures and the national heritage.
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Consistent with the principles adopted by the UNESCO World Conference on
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Cultural Policies held in Mexico in 1982, this Act affirms that cuiture encompasses the
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full range of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional features that
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characterize a society or social group. This includes not only artistic and literary
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expressions, but also modes of life, value systems, beliefs, and traditions.
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The State shall also recognize the spiritual, ecological, and ceremonial
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significance of traditional cultural expressions, which may not always be commercial
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in nature but are essential to the identity and continuity of indigenous ways of life.
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Accordingly, the State shall ensure that the rights of Indigenous Peoples to
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their traditional cultural heritage are secured and respected, particularly against
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misuse, misappropriation, and commodification. This includes the application of
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traditional forms of intellectual property rights such as moral rights, copyright, and
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royalty-based mechanisms rooted in communal ownership and customary law.
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Sec. 3. Definition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall
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be defined as follows:
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a. Communal ownership shall refer to the common, collective, or
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communal right of possession, control, and stewardship over
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traditional cultural property as recognized under customary law,
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including the right to exclude unauthorized use, to authorize
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adaptations, and to receive recognition and compensation. Such
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ownership may be perpetual, 
non-transferable outside the
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community, and governed by traditional governance mechanisms;
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b. Community shall refer to the congregation of people with social
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cohesion and identity organized among common values interacting
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with intimacy and reciprocity in a shared circumscribed location in
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units larger than a household; and has more similarities in the types
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and forms of their material goods;
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c. Craft describes the family of artistic practices within the decorative
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arts, traditional, is defined by their relationship to functional or
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utilitarian products (such as sculptural forms in the vessel tradition)
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or by their use of such natural media as wood, clay, glass, textiles,
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and metal;
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d. Cultural agencies shall refer to the following national government
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agencies with their specific areas of responsibility: National Museum
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(cultural property); National 
Library (books); National Historical
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Institute (Philippine history); National Archives (documents); Cultural
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Center of the Philippines (culture and arts); Komisyon sa Wikang
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Filipino (language);


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e. Cultural heritage shall refer to the totality of cultural property 
preserved and developed through time and passed on to posterity;
f. Cultural property shail refer to ali products of human creativity by 
which a people and a nation reveal their identity, including churches. 
Mosques, and other places of religious worship, schools, and natural 
history specimens and sites, whether public or privately owned, 
movable or immovable, and tangible or intangible;
g. Derivative work is one that is primarily a new work but incorporated 
some previously published material. This previously published 
material makes the work a derivative work under the copyright law. 
To be copyrightable, a derivative work must be different enough from 
the original to be regarded as a "new work" or must contain a 
substantial amount of new material. Making minor changes or 
additions of little substance to a preexisting work will not qualify the 
work as a new version for copyright purposes. The new material must 
be original and copyrightable in itself. Titles, short phrases, and 
format, for example, are not copyrightable;
h. Intangible cultural heritage shall refer to the practices, 
representations, expressions, knowledge, skills as well as 
instruments, objects, and artifacts associated therewith, that 
communities, groups, and individuals recognize as part of their 
cultural heritage, such as (1) oral traditions, languages, expressions; 
(2) performing acts; (3) social practices, rituals, and festive events;
(4) knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; and
(5) traditional craftsmanship;
i. 
Indigenous peoples shall refer to people, communities, and nations 
who claim a historical continuity affinity with societies endemic to 
their original territories. They have historically formed and are still 
currently forming the minority/non-dominant sectors within majority- 
culture societies and are intentioned towards preserving, reviving, 
and enhancing the efficacy, cohesion, and uniqueness of their


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traditional social values and customary ties along with a 
conscientious effort to transmit this knowiedge to future generations;
j. Intangible cultural property shall refer to the people's learned 
processes along with the knowledge, skills, and creativity that inform 
and are developed by them, the products they create, and the 
resources, spaces, and other aspects of social and natural context 
necessary for their sustainability;
k. Tangible cultural property shaii refer to a cuitural property with 
historicai, archival, anthropological, archeological, artistic, and 
architectural value, and with exceptional or traditional production, 
whether of Philippine origin or not, including antiques and natural 
history specimens with significant value;
l. 
Tradition shall refer to the beliefs, customs, practices, industries, 
expressions, whether tangibie or intangibie, maintained and shared 
differentiaiiy by society, and handed down from generation to 
generation. Tradition in this respect is a continuum that changes and 
may arise in time shaii not, therefore, be subject to time limitation;
m. Registry shall refer to the Philippine Registry of Culturai Property 
which is the registry of all cultural property of the country deemed of 
significant importance to our culturai heritage as defined in RA 
10066;
n. /?/tesshall refer to formal or ceremonial acts or procedures prescribed 
or customary in religious or other solemn use, or a particular form of 
system of religious or other ceremonies;
0. Rituals shall refer to an established or prescribed procedure for a 
religious or other rite, a system or collection of religious or other 
rites; observance of set forms in public worship; a prescribed or 
established rite, ceremony, proceeding, or service: the ritual of the 
dead; prescribed, established or ceremonial acts or features 
collectively, as in religious services; any practice or pattern of 
behavior regulating social conduct;


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p. Royalty shall refer to the payment to the holder of a patent or
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copyright or resource for the right to use of their property;
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q. Social process shail refer to the means by which culture and social
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organization change or are preserved due to process of practice;
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r. Ora! expression shall refer to the expression uttered by the mouth,
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spoken, oral testimony or transmitted by speech;
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s. Performance shall refer to the acting out of a ceremony, play, piece
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of music, etc., the execution or accomplishment of work acts, feats,
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etc., a particular action, deed, or proceeding the manner in which or
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the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended
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purpose, and not necessarily as part of the social process; and
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t. Ownership shall refer to the legal right of possession or
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proprietorship; the state, relation, or fact of being an owner; also,
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the rights or interests of an owner, ownership especially by a single
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person that is free of any encumbrances or limitations other than
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statutory.
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Sec. 4. Implementing Agency. - The National Commission for Culture and the
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Arts (NCCA), hereinafter referred to as the Commission, shall implement the provisions
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of this Act.
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The Commission shall work in close coordination with the National Commission
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for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), which shall serve as the lead agency in matters
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specifically involving Indigenous Peoples, especially where customary law or ancestral
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domain is involved. The Commission shall likewise coordinate with the Inteilectual
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Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) for matters invoiving inteilectual property
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systems, registration protocols, and enforcement mechanisms, where applicable.
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Sec. 5. Period of Ownership. - Traditional cultural property, whether tangible
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or intangible, of all the ethnolinguistic groups that make up the people of the
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Philippines shall not lapse into the public domain after fifty (50) years from creation
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and shall continue indefinitely to be exclusive property of these ethnolinguistic groups
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that communally own them. Traditional heritage, both tangible and intangible, are to
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be held in perpetuity in ethnic memory and considered valid as ethnic intellectual
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property.
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Sec. 6. Inventory and Registration of Cuiturai Properties. - Under the guidance
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of the Commission and the Nationai Museum (NM), or any other pertinent nationai
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cuiturai agency, the Locai Government Units (LGUs) with the assistance of the NCIP
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shaii organize inventories of cuiturai properties of the different ethnolinguistic groups
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of the Philippines that are distinctive, characteristic of or derived from their particular
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traditional culture, to the exclusion of those of others and shall submit these to the
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Commission through the National Museum to establish communal ownership, and to
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be registered under the group's name for protection within existing copyright laws.
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In organizing inventories, the Commission and partner agencies shall ensure
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meaningful participation of elders, cultural bearers, and community representatives in
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the documentation, classification, and ownership validation processes. Customary
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decision-making structures shall be recognized.
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Further that these registries of the tangible and intangible cultural properties
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thus accomplished shall be incorporated in the Philippines Registry of Cultural Property
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(PRECUP) as established by Republic Act 10066 and administered by the Commission.
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Sec. 7. Retention of Originai Rights of Ownership. - The communal ownership
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of Indigenous Peoples and ethnolinguistic communities over their traditional cultural
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property, whether tangible or intangible, shall subsist notwithstanding the evolution
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or adaptation of such property over time.
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The changing or dynamic nature of tradition, as defined in this Act, shall not be
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construed to extinguish, limit, or transfer the original rights of ownership or moral
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claims vested in the originating community. Any transformation, adaptation, or
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derivative work arising from such tradition shall remain subject to the intellectual
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property rights of the Indigenous Peoples concerned, unless expressly waived in
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accordance with their customary law.
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Sec. 8. Derivative Work. - The infusion of personal or individual variations on
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a traditional object would result in a derivative work or craft, which is one that is
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primarily a new work but incorporates some previously established material. A
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derivative work must be different enough from the original to be regarded as a "new
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work" or must contain a substantial amount of new material. Making minor changes
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or additions of little substance to a pre-existing work will not qualify the work as a


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new version for copyright purposes. The new material must be original and
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copyrightable in itself.
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Sec. 9. Term of Rights. - The collective moral and cultural rights of Indigenous
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Peoples over their traditional cultural expressions, traditional knowledge, and cultural
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property shall be recognized as perpetual and inalienable, in accordance with
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customary law and the principles of cultural integrity.
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However, the economic or commercial rights granted under this Act for non-
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sacred, tangible traditional cultural expressions may be deemed waived or lapse into
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the public domain if such expressions have not been reproduced, transmitted, or used
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in any meaningful cultural or community context for at least fifty (50) years, as
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determined in accordance with the rules and procedures set forth in the Implementing
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Rules and Regulations.
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Sec. 10. Creation of an Office. - Pursuant to the above, the Commission will
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create an office within its structure to coordinate all efforts of government and private
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agencies that have forms of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in making the
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above-mentioned registry; and to undertake the safeguarding of national cultural
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heritage stipulated therein that are viable.
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Sec. 11. Reorganization. - With the approval of the Board, the Commission
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shall have the authority to reorganize its structure and staffing pattern in order to
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carry out its functions. The incumbents in the leadership structure of the existing
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Commission shall automatically be upgraded to these analogous positions, with
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respect to the rest of the personnel.
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Sec. 12. Deposit and Notice. - Moral rights would vest upon creation; hence,
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authorship would have to be established to avail of moral rights such as right of
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attribution. Moral rights to ownership of newly created items by members of an
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ethnolinguistic group should be registered with the Commission for protection under
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copyright law. Copyright vests from the moment of creation; and registration is one
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of the ways to prove authorship, although it is not exclusive.
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a. The Commission through the relevant government cultural agency,
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shall assist in identifying works and attributing authorship, and
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further shall be responsible for maintaining and populating this
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registry;
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b. The Commission shall assist the claimants and relevant government
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agencies in resolving conflicts of ownership and attribution who will
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give permission to people who wish to use the work upon discovery
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of the same in the database; and
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c. The Commission shali assist relevant government agencies in the
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prosecution of unauthorized use of intellectual property of
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indigenous peoples.
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Sec. 13. Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. - The free, prior, and informed
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consent of Indigenous Peoples shall be required for the use, reproduction, adaptation,
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or commercialization of their traditional cultural property or associated intellectual
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property. Such consent shall be obtained before the commencement of any activity,
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and only from the recognized authority of the concerned ethnolinguistic group, as
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determined through their customary governance systems and validated by the NCIP.
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The recognized authority shall be supported, where necessary, by cultural
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experts, and may be assisted by the corresponding elected local official, provided that
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the process respects and preserves the community's autonomous cultural decision-
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making.
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The Commission shall formulate guidelines for FPIC procedures under this Act
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in coordination with the concerned Indigenous Peoples and the NCIP. These guidelines
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shall ensure transparency, recordkeeping, and the protection of community integrity.
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Notwithstanding the foregoing, FPIC shall not be required for the non-
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commercial use of traditional cultural property in the foliowing circumstances,
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provided such use is conducted with respect and proper attribution:
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a) Educational and academic use, including by students, teachers, and
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researchers for instructional, research, or scholarly purposes;
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b) Cultural promotion and awareness, such as exhibitions, publications, or
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public presentations by museums, schools, or cultural institutions, where the intent is
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not to profit or exploit;
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c) Government cultural programs, organized in coordination with the concerned
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ICC/IP and intended solely to promote inclusive national heritage;
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d) Religious or traditional observances performed by the community or its
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members.
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These permitted uses shall not apply to traditional cultural properties that have
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been formally classified as sacred or restricted by the originating Indigenous Peoples.
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The NCIP, in consultation with concerned communities, may consider adopting and
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maintaining a list of such sacred or restricted properties as part of the Implementing
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Rules and Regulations of this Act.
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Any digital reproduction, artificial intelligence (Al)-generated use, or
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distribution of traditional cultural property shall be subject to the same requirements
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of FPIC, attribution, and royalty as physical or analog use. The Commission, in
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coordination with the Department of Information and Communications Technology
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(DICT) and NCIP, shall develop digital safeguards and enforcement protocols, which
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shall include protocols for the takedown of unauthorized content from online
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platforms.
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Sec. 14. Designation of Society. - Indigenous communal copyright (intellectual
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property) owners may designate a society with legal personality to act on their behalf
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to enforce their economic and moral rights.
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Sec. 15. Royaities. - Indigenous communal copyright (intellectual property)
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owners shall be compensated for the use of their work. The amount, process of
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collecting, and distributing this royalty and other pertinent details will be determined
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by the Commission.
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Sec. 16. Appropriations. - For the initial implementation of this Act, the amount
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of Fifty Miiiion Pesos (Php 50,000,000.00) is hereby appropriated and shall be sourced
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from the President's Contingent Fund.
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Sec. 17. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - The Commission, in
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consultation with other relevant cultural agencies mentioned in this Act, shall
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promulgate the implementing rules and regulations within ninety (90) days after the
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effectivity of this Act.
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A review of the implementation of this Act shall be conducted by the
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Commission, in consultation with Indigenous Peoples, civil society, and academic
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institutions, every five (5) years from its effectivity. The review shall assess the law's
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impact on cultural vitality, legal protection, and access, and recommend any needed
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amendments.


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Sec. 18. Penalties. - In addition to the penalties under existing laws, any person
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found guilty of violating any provisions of this Act shall be imprisoned for a term not
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exceeding ten (10) years or a fine not exceeding One Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php
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100,000.00) or both such imprisonment and fine at the discretion of the court.
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Sec. 19. Repealing Clause. - The provisions of Phiiippine copyright law and
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other related laws to the extent that they are inconsistent with this Act are hereby
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repeaied or amended accordingly.
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Sec. 20. Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any part or provision of this
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Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the parts or provisions not affected thereby
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shall remain in full force and effect.
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Sec. 21. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days
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foilowing its pubiication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of generai
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circulation, whichever comes first.
Approved,
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