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10/06/2008 - Affirming ownership of their ancestral domain, the Nueva Vizcaya Bugkalot Tribal Council has adopted and approved through a resolution approved last September 24, 2008 their Ancestral Domain Sustainable Development and Protection Plan (ADSDPP). The Plan applies to their ancestral domain covered by two Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claims (CADCs) consisting of 58,212 hectares of forest lands located in the municipalities of Alfonso Castaneda and Dupax del Sur and some portions of Pantabangan and Carranglan, Nueva Ecija towns. The ADSDPP is product of a year of formulation work with technical assistance from the USAID-funded Philippine Environmental Governance Project 2 (EcoGov) in partnership with the National Council for Indigenous People (NCIP), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Friends of Resources for Development and Sustainability (FRENDS), and the LGUs of Alfonso Castaneda and Dupax del Sur.
The ancestral domain of the Bugkalots plays a significant role not only among the tribe but to the other people of Cagayan Valley and the country as a whole. The domain is part of the Sierra Madre mountain range, a key biodiversity area (KBA). It also serves as major source for the Pantabangan Dam which is used for irrigation and hydroelectric power generation. For the Bugkalots and associated population totalling about 8,000 in all, the domain is their livelihood base. “Our ADSDPP serves as handy guide to government and related institutions who wish to come in and assist us in our development,” says Alfonso Castañeda mayor Jerry Pasigian who, himself, was involved in the whole process of formulating the plan. “Our ADSDPP is the expression of our rights and aspirations as a people in our ancestral domain. With it, other people or sectors who want to work with us or help us will better understand us,” he added. The ADSDPP lays down guidelines for entry and partnership with investors and in obtaining free and prior informed consent of the tribe for any incoming development project in their community. Through the ADSDPP, the Bugkalots have stressed their determination towards self-governance based on their traditional system of leadership, justice and administration of natural resources within their territory.
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The resolution, which was signed by the chieftains of seven barangays within the two CADCs, recognizes the ADSDPP as a means to address the destruction of natural resources in the Bugkalot ancestral domain and to pursue development in their communities. 
