Whose Land? A Critical Legal Study of Comparative Customary Land Registration in Indonesia and the Philippines
Administratively, clarity regarding the registration of customary land rights for indigenous peoples in Indonesia was only achieved in 2024 with the enactment of Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency Regulation No. 14 of 2024, which pertains to the implementation of land administration and the registration of customary land rights for indigenous communities. While it has implemented more comprehensive regulations for registering customary land rights, this regulation is limited in that it only applies to customary land free from conflicts. Similarly, the Philippines faces a comparable challenge. According to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGA), in 2023, the Philippines' National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) reached just 33% of its goal, issuing Certificates of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) or Certificates of Ancestral Land Title (CALT) for 1.531 ancestral domains and lands. This study seeks to critically examine how customary or communal land registration is conducted within customary law communities in Indonesia and the Philippines. It compares land ownership practices in both countries, emphasizing both formal administrative registration and substantive issues. This study employs a comparative and statutory approach, combined with qualitative methods within a critical legal studies framework. While the Philippines has demonstrated some progress over Indonesia—particularly in institutional development and data collection for land administration—the situation regarding overlaps between indigenous customary land and various permits for natural resource management remains similar in both nations. Furthermore, in Indonesia, the Minister of Agrarian Affairs' regulation does not explicitly recognize data from NGOs such as the Indigenous Territory Registration Agency (BRWA) and the Indigenous Peoples' Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), which have already established indigenous territories. Consequently, the overlap between customary land registration and conflicting industrial permits, such as mining and oil palm plantations, could hinder its effectiveness.