President Rodrigo Roa Duterte awarded the six (6) most recently approved CADTs during his Presidential Visit in Region 13 with National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) Chairperson Allen A. Capuyan, who is also the Executive Director of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Secretariat and the Region 13 Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security (CORDS), on 12 April 2022 in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.

Republic Act 8371, otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997, defines CADT as a title formally recognizing the rights of possession and ownership of Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples (ICCs/IPs) over their Ancestral Domains identified and delineated in accordance with this law. Ancestral Lands and/or Domains are generally associated and connected to the lives of the IPs, often called as the backbone of the IP Community.

During the presidency of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, a total of 12 CADTs were formally approved and recognized by the NCIP Commission en Banc (CEB), the most recent of which are 6 CADTs during the leadership of Chairperson Capuyan, which were awarded to the ICCs/IPs of Caraga.

These 6 CADTs are the following:

1. CADT R-13-SLU-1220-250 of the Banwaon ICCs/IPs of San Luis, Agusan del Sur comprising a total land area of 38,005.4755 hectares which was approved last 03 December 2020;

2. CADT R-13-BUE-0121-252 of the Higaonon ICCs/IPs of Las Nieves, Buenavista, Nasipit, and Carmen, Agusan del Norte, portions of Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, and Magsaysay, Misamis Oriental comprising a total land area of 44,288.26 hectares which was approved last 15 January 2021;

3. CADT R-13-JAB-0221-253 of the Mamanwa ICCs/IPs of Jabonga, Kitcharao, Agusan del Norte and portion of Mainit, Surigao del Norte comprising an ancestral land area of 4,364.9027 hectares with ancestral water of 9,891.506 hectares which was approved last 24 February 2021;

4. CADT R-13-MAL-0521-254 of the Mamanwa ICCs/IPs of Malimono, San Francisco, Sison, and Surigao City, all in the Province of Surigao del Norte comprising a total land area of 8,623.88 hectares which was approved last 20 May 2021;

5. CADT R-13-ESP-1021-255 of the Higaonon and Banwaon ICCs/IPs of Esperanza, Agusan del Sur comprising a total land area of 103,484.19 hectares which was approved last 28 October 2021; and the latest

6. CADT R-13-REM-1121-256 of the Mamanwa ICCs/IPs of RTR, Cabadbaran City, and Butuan City, all in the Province of Agusan del Norte comprising a total land area of 4,876.91 hectares which was approved last 04 November 2021.

NCIP Chairperson Capuyan, together with NCIP Caraga, joins President Duterte in bringing the Government closer to the ICCs/IPs by recognizing, respecting, promoting, protecting, and fulfilling their thirty-six (36) Specific IP Rights under the four (4) Bundles of Rights and the full implementation of the 11 Building Blocks for a resilient, responsive, and relevant ICCs/IPs in their Ancestral Domains.