Section 4Sec./Art. 4

Definition of Terms. - For the purposes of this Act, the following terms are defined as follows:

(a)"Alienable and disposable lands" refer to public lands classified as agricultural and therefore alienable and disposable prior to the passage of this Act, provided that ancestral domains are not considered to be alienable and disposable as they are considered never to have been public;

(b)"Ancestral lands and domains" refer to all lands and natural resources occupied or possessed by indigenous cultural communities, by themselves or through their ancestors, communally or individually, in accordance with their customs and traditions since time immemorial and continuously to the present except when interrupted by war, force majeure, or displacement by force, deceit or stealth. It includes all adjacent areas generally belonging to them and which are necessary to ensure their economic, social and cultural welfare;

(c)"Forest lands" shall refer to all lands within the Batanes Protected Area which are public lands, not ancestral lands or domains and have not been classified as alienable and disposable, thereby placing it within the constitutional classification of national park;

(d)"Nongovernment organization" shall refer to any civic, development or philanthropic organization which is multi-sectoral in character;

(e)"Non-renewable resources" are those resources found within the protected area and its buffer zones the replenishment rate of which is either not known or takes more than twenty- five (25) years;

(f)"People's organization" shall refer to organizations whose purpose for establishment is to protect or advance the interest of specific sectors, such as but not limited to farmers, fisherfolks, women and the like;

(g)"Peripheral waters" shall refer to the waters covered under the technical description under Section 3 hereof;

(h)"Private lands" are those registered as such under the property registration decree, those over which private ownerships have ripened as provided for under the Public Land Act and those considered ancestral lands despite the lack of documentation that reflect such status;

(i)"Protected species" any individual of the following species: marine turtles, green turban snails, dolphins, whales, whale sharks or any species listed under the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), or any plant or animal that is or shall be declared as protected under the Philippine laws, rules and regulations issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) or the PAMB or the management plan herein provided for.