CHAPTER VI CULTURAL INTEGRITY

SEC. 29. Protection of Indigenous Culture, Traditions and Institutions. - The State shall
respect, recognize and protect the right of ICCs/IPs to preserve and protect their culture,
traditions and institutions. It shall consider these rights in the formulation and application of
national plans and policies.
SEC. 30. Educational Systems. - The State shall provide equal access to various cultural
opportunities to the ICCs/IPs through the educational system, public or private cultural
entities, scholarships, grants and other incentives without prejudice to their right to establish
and control their educational systems and institutions by providing education in their own
language, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning.
Indigenous children/youth shall have the right to all levels and forms of education of the
State.
SEC. 31. Recognition of Cultural Diversity. - The State shall endeavor to have the dignity
and diversity of the cultures, traditions, histories and aspirations of the ICCs/IPs
appropriately reflected in all forms of education, public information and cultural-educational
exchange. Consequently, the State shall take effective measures, in consultation with
ICCs/IPs concerned, to eliminate prejudice and discrimination and to promote tolerance,
understanding and good relations among ICCs/IPs and all segments of society. Furthermore,
the Government shall take effective measures to ensure that State-owned media duly reflect
indigenous cultural diversity. The State shall likewise ensure the participation of appropriate
indigenous leaders in schools, communities and international cooperative undertakings like
festivals, conferences, seminars and workshops to promote and enhance their distinctive
heritage and values.
SEC. 32. Community Intellectual Rights. - ICCs/IPs have the right to practice and revitalize
their own cultural traditions and customs. The State shall presence, protect and develop the
past, present and future manifestations of their cultures as well as the right to the restitution
of cultural, intellectual religious, and spiritual property taken without their free and prior
informed consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs.
SEC. 33. Rights to Religious, Cultural Sites and Ceremonies. -ICCs/IPs shall have the right
to manifest, practice, develop and teach their spiritual and religious traditions, customs and
ceremonies; the right to maintain, protect and have access to their religious and cultural sites;
the right to use and control of ceremonial objects; and, the right to the repatriation of human
remains. Accordingly, the State shall take effective measures, in cooperation with the
ICCs/IPs concerned to ensure that indigenous sacred places, including burial sites, be
preserved, respected and protected. To achieve this purpose, it shall be unlawful to:
a) Explore, excavate or make diggings on archeological sites of the ICCs/IPs for the purpose
of obtaining materials of cultural values without the free and prior informed consent of the
community concerned; and
b) Deface, remove or otherwise destroy artifacts which are of great importance to the
ICCs/IPs for the preservation of their cultural heritage.

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SEC. 34. Right to Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices and to Develop own
Sciences and Technologies. - ICCs/IPs are entitled to the recognition of the full ownership
and control end protection of their cultural and intellectual rights. They shall have the right to
special measures to control, develop and protect their sciences, technologies and cultural
manifestations, including human and other genetic resources, seeds, including derivatives of
these resources, traditional medicines and hearth practices, vital medicinal plants, animals
and minerals, indigenous knowledge systems and practices, knowledge of the properties of
fauna and flora, oral traditions, literature, designs, and visual and performing arts.
SEC. 35. Access to Biological and Genetic Resources. - Access to biological and genetic
resources and to indigenous knowledge related to the conservation, utilization and
enhancement of these resources, shall be allowed within ancestral lands and domains of the
ICCs/IPs only with a free and prior informed consent of such communities, obtained in
accordance with customary laws of the concerned community.
SEC. 36. Sustainable Agro-Technical Development. - The State shall recognize the right of
ICCs/IPs to a sustainable agro-technological development and shall formulate and implement
programs of action for its effective implementation. The State shall likewise promote the
big-genetic and resource management systems among the ICCs/IPs shall encourage
cooperation among government agencies to ensure the successful sustainable development of
ICCs/IPs.
SEC. 37. Funds for Archeological and Historical Sites. - The ICCs/ IPs shall have the right to
receive from the national government all funds especially earmarked or allocated for the
management and preservation of their archeological and historical sites and artifacts with the
financial and technical support of the national government agencies.