NATRES REVIEWER

Chapter 1

1. SLAPP (Strategic lawsuit against public participation)

Refers to an action whether civil, criminal or administrative, brought against any person,
institution or any government agency or local government unit or its officials and
employees, with the intent to harass, vex, exert undue pressure or stifle any legal
recourse that such person, institution or government agency has taken or may take in
the enforcement of environmental laws, protection of the environment or assertion of
environmental rights.

2. Writ of Kalikasan

The writ is a remedy available to a natural or juridical person, entity authorized by law,
people’s organization, non-governmental organization, or any public interest group
accredited by or registered with any government agency, on behalf of persons whose
constitutional right to a balanced and healthful ecology is violated, or threatened with
violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or private
individual or entity, involving environmental damage of such magnitude as to prejudice
the life, health or property of inhabitants in two or more cities or provinces.

3. Writ of Continuing Mandamus

When any agency or instrumentality of the government or officer thereof unlawfully

neglects the performance of an act which the law specifically enjoins as a duty resulting
from an office, trust or station in connection with the enforcement or violation of an
environmental law rule or regulation or a right therein, or unlawfully excludes another
from the use or enjoyment of such right and there is no other plain, speedy and
adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law, the person aggrieved thereby may file a
verified petition in the proper court, alleging the facts with certainty, attaching thereto
supporting evidence, specifying that the petition concerns an environmental law, rule or
regulation, and praying that judgment be rendered commanding the respondent to do
an act or series of acts until the judgment is fully satisfied, and to pay damages
sustained by the petitioner by reason of the malicious neglect to perform the duties of
the respondent, under the law, rules or regulations. The petition shall also contain a
sworn certification of non-forum shopping.
 4. Article 1 of the Constitution

The national territory comprises the Philippine Archipelago and all the islands and
waters embraced therein, and all other territories over which the Philippines has
sovereignty and jurisdiction, consisting of its terrestrial, aerial, and fluvial domains,
including its territorial sea, the seabed, the subsoil, the insular shelves, and all other
submarine areas. The water around, between and connecting the islands of the
archipelago, regardless of their breadth and dimension, shall form part of the internal
waters of the Philippines.

5. Article 2 Section 15

The State shall protect and promote the right to health of the people and install health
consciousness among them

6. Article 2 Section 16

The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful
ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature

7. Article 12 Section 2

All lands of the public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oils,
all forces of potential energy, fisheries, forests or timber, wildlife, flora and fauna, and
other natural resources are owned by the State. With the exception of agricultural lands,
all other natural resources shall not be alienated. The exploration, development, and
utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the
State.

The State shall protect the nation’s marine wealth in its archipelagic waters, territorial
sea, and exclusive economic zone, and reserve its use and enjoyment exclusively to
Filipino citizens.

The Congress may, by law, allow small-scale utilization of natural resources by Filipino
citizens, as well as cooperative fish farming, with priority to subsistence fishermen and
fishworkers in rivers, lakes, bays and lagoons.

The President may enter into agreements with foreign-owned corporations involving
either technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration, development, and
utilization of minerals, petroleum, and other mineral oils according to the general terms
and conditions provided by law, based on real contributions to the economic growth and
general welfare of the country. In such agreements, the State shall promote the
development and use of local scientific and technical resources.
 8. Regalian Doctrine

All lands of public domain, waters, minerals, coal, petroleum, and other mineral oil,
fisheries, forest or timber, wildlife, flora or fauna, and all other natural resources are
owned by the State. All lands or other natural resources shall not be alienated except
for agricultural land. Unclassified lands are presumed to be owned by the State

9. IPRA Law (Indigenous People’s Rights Act)

The Indigenous People’s Rights Act is a law reorganizing, protecting, and preserving
the right of indigenous people to their ancestral lands and ancestral domains as
mandated by the Constitution to ensure cultural integrity. Ancestral lands or ancestral
domains are not part of public domain; it was held in the case of Cruz vs. Sec. Natural
Resources, that ancestral lands or ancestral domains are private property owned by the
indigenous people by native title.

Chapter 2

1. Public Land Act C.A. 141

The provisions of this Act shall apply to the lands of the public domain; but timber and
mineral lands shall be governed by special laws and nothing in this Act provided shall
be understood or construed to change or modify the administration and disposition of
the lands commonly called "friar lands'' and those which, being privately owned, have
reverted to or become the property of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, which
administration and disposition shall be governed by the laws at present in force or which
may hereafter be enacted.

2. Public Agricultural Lands

Alienable lands of public domain, lands classified by CA No. 141 as alienable and
disposable. Alienable portions of public domain which are neither timber nor mineral
lands.

3. Cadastral Registration

(a) When in the opinion of the President of the Philippines public interest so requires
that title to any unregistered lands be settled and adjudicated, he may to this end direct
and order the Director of Lands to cause to be made a cadastral survey of the lands
involved and the plans and technical description thereof prepared in due form.

(b) Thereupon, the Director of Lands shall give notice to persons claiming any interest in
the lands as well as to the general public, of the day on which such survey will begin,
giving as fully and accurately as possible the description of the lands to be surveyed.
Such notice shall be punished once in the Official Gazette, and a copy of the notice in
English or the national language shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the bulletin
board of the municipal building of the municipality in which the lands or any portion
thereof is situated. A copy of the notice shall also be sent to the mayor of such
municipality as well as to the barangay captain and likewise to the Sangguniang
Panlalawigan and the Sangguniang Bayan concerned.

(c) The Geodetic Engineers or other employees of the Bureau of Lands in charge of the
survey shall give notice reasonably in advance of the date on which the survey of any
portion of such lands is to begin, which notice shall be posted in the bulletin board of the
municipal building of the municipality or barrio in which the lands are situated, and shall
mark the boundaries of the lands by monuments set up in proper places thereon. It shall
be lawful for such Geodetic Engineers and other employees to enter upon the lands
whenever necessary for the purposes of such survey or the placing of monuments. (d) It
shall be the duty of every person claiming an interest in the lands to be surveyed, or in
any parcel thereof, to

communicate with the Geodetic Engineer upon his request therefor all information
possessed by such person concerning the boundary lines of any lands to which he
claims title or in which he claims any interest.

(e) Any person who shall willfully obstruct the making of any survey undertaken by the
Bureau of Lands or by a licensed Geodetic Engineer duly authorized to conduct the
survey under this Section, or shall maliciously interfere with the placing of any
monument or remove such monument, or shall destroy or remove any notice of survey
posted on the land pursuant to law, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one
thousand pesos or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.

4. Action for Reversion

It is the cancellation of the certificate of title and the resulting reversion of the land
covered by the title to the State.

5. Why are agricultural lands considered alienable (for citizens to be more industrious)?

6. Role of DENR, DENR Secretary, LMB, and Director of Lands

 DENR - shall be primarily responsible for the implementation of the policy:
" The state shall ensure, for the benefit of the Filipino people, the full
exploration and development as well as the judicious disposition,
utilization, management, renewal and conservation of the country's forest,
mineral, land, waters, and natural resources, consistent with the objective
of making the exploration, development and utilization of such natural
 resources equitably accessible to the different segments of the present as
well as future generations." "The state shall recognize and apply a true
value system that takes into account the utilization, development, and
conservation of our natural resources.". - In charge of carrying out the
state's constitutional mandate to control and supervise the exploration,
development, utilization, (EDU) and conservation of the country's natural
resources.
 Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources - executive officer
charged with carrying out the provisions of the Public Land Act, through
the Director of Land, who shall act under his immediate control.
 Director of Land/LMB - shall have direct executive control of the survey,
classification, lease, sale or any other form of concession or disposition or
management of the lands of the public domain, and his decision as to
questions of fact shall be conclusive when approved by the Secretary of
Environment and Natural Resources.

7. Classification of Lands (CA 141 Sec 6 and Sec 9)

Lands of public domain - alienable or inalienable

Lands of private domain - land belonging to and owned by the state as private
individual, without being devoted for public use, public service or the development of
national wealth ... similar to patrimonial properties of the state.

 For purposes of administration and disposition of alienable or disposable public

lands The President, upon recommendation of the Secretary of Environment and
Natural Resources, shall from time to time declare what lands are open to
disposition or concession under act.
 The President may any time and in a like manner transfer such lands from one
class to another, for the purpose of their administration and disposition.
 Section 6 of Public Land Act classifies land of public domain into (a) alienable or
disposable, (b) timber, (c) mineral lands.
 Section 9 of CA No. 141 - provides that the alienable or disposable public lands
shall be classified according to use or purposes to which they are destined, into
agricultural, residential, commercial, etc.
 Before the government may alienate or dispose of lands of public domain., the
President must first officially classify these lands as alienable or disposable, and
then declare them open to disposition or concession.
  Section 6 of CA No. 141 provides that classification or reclassification of public
land into alienable or disposable, mineral or forest lands is a prerogative of the
executive department of the government and not of the courts.

8. Modes of Disposition of Lands

 No public land can be acquired by private person without any grant,
express or implied from the government.
 One claiming public rights must prove that he has complied with the Public
Land Act high prescribes the substantive as well as the procedural
requirements of public lands.
 Only lands declared to have been officially delimited and classified and,
when practicable, surveyed, and which have not been reserved for public
or quasi-public uses, nor appropriated by the government, nor in any
manner become private property, nor those on which a private right
authorized and recognized by the act or any valid law may be claimed, or
which having been reserved or appropriated has ceased to be so.
 Public lands suitable for agricultural purposes can be disposed off only as
follows:
A. For homestead settlement
B. Sale of Public Agricultural Land
C. Lease
D. Confirmation of imperfect or incomplete title (judicial legalization)

The confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles may be done in two ways:

1. Judicial legalization or judicial confirmation of imperfect or incomplete titles under

Chapter VIII of the Public Land Act.

2. Administrative legalization or free patents under chapter VII of the same act.

9. Burden of Proof
 The burden is on the applicant to prove his positive averments and not for
the government or the private oppositions to establish a negative
proposition insofar as the applicants' specific lots are concerned.
 He must submit convincing proof of his and his predecessor-in-interest's
actual, peaceful and adverse possession in the concept of owner of the
lots during the period required by law.
 When the conditions specified therein are complied with, the possessor is
deemed to have acquired, by operation of law, a right to a government
 grant, without necessity of a certificate of title being issued, and the land
ceases to be a part of public domain.

Chapter 3

1. Revised Forestry Code PD 705

 emphasizes on the utilization of forest resources but mores so on the
protection, rehabilitation and development of forest land, in order to insure
the continuity of their productive condition.
 Institutes proper classification and delimitation of the lands of the public
domain, and the management, utilization, protection, rehabilitation and
development of forest lands.

2. Public Forest, Permanent Forest or Forest Reserves, Forest Land

 Public forest - mass of lands of public domain which has not been subject
of the present system of classification for the determination of which lands
are needed for forest purposes and which are not
 Permanent Forest and Forest Reserves - lands of public domain;
classified and determined to be needed for forest purposes.
 Forest Lands - includes the public forest, the permanent forest or forest
reserves and forest reservations.

3. Role of DENR, FMB, DENR Secretary, and Director of Forest Development

 DENR - Policy of the state to ensure, for the benefit of the Filipino people,
the full exploration and development as well as the judicious disposition,
utilization, management, renewal and conservation of the country's forest,
mineral, land, waters, fisheries, wildlife, off-shore areas and other natural
resources, consistent with the necessity of maintaining a sound ecological
balance and protecting and enhancing the quality of environment and the
objective of making the exploration, development, and utilization of such
natural resources equitably accessible to the different segments of the
present as well as future generations.
 Forrest Gump Management Bureau - for the purpose of implementing the
provisions of this code, the following are merged: (a) Bureau of Forestry,
(b) Reforestation administration, (c) Southern Cebu Reforestation
Development Project (d) Parks and Wildlife Offic
  The Bureau is headed by a Director, who is assisted by one or more
Assistant Directors, both appointed by the president.
 The Bureau is under the supervision of the DENR Secretary, who shall
promulgate the rules and regulations necessary to implement the
provisions of this code. > All actions and decisions of the Bureau Director
are subject to review, motu proprio or upon appeal of any person
aggrieved thereby after the lapse of 30 days from receipt by aggrieved
party of said decision, unless appealed to the president in accordance with
EO No. 19, s. Of 1966.
 The decision of the DENR Secretary may not be reviewed by the courts
except through a special civil actions for certiorari or prohibition.

4. Exhaustion and Finality of Administrative Decisions

Calls for result first to the appropriate administrative authorities in the resolution of a
controversy falling under their jurisdiction before the same may be elevated to the
courts of justice for review.

5. Are Forest Lands Registerable?

No. If the land forms part of a forest, possession thereof, no matter how long, cannot
convert it into private property as it is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Bureau and
beyond the power of the registration court.

6. Inter-Generational Responsibility and Justice

Oposa v. Factoran - bears upon the constitutional right of the Filipinos to a balanced
and healthful ecology which the petitioners dramatically associate with the twin
concepts of "inter-generational responsibility" and "intergenerational justice

7. Timber Licence agreement

A timber license is not a contract but a mere privilege which does not create irrevocable
rights. (Tan v. Director of Forestry - the constitution expressly mandates the
conservation and proper utilization of natural resources.)

(Ysmael v. Deputy Executive Secretary - A timber license is an instrument by which the

State regulates the utilization and disposition of forest resources to the end that public
welfare is promoted.)

8. Crimes and Penalties under RPC (112-118)

 Cutting, gathering and/or collecting timber or other products without license.
 Unlawful occupation or destruction forest lands
 Pasturing livestock
  Illegal Occupation of National Park System and recreation areas and vandalism
therein.

Arrest; Institution of Criminal Action

 A forest officer or employee of the Bureau shall arrest even without warrant any
person who has committed or is committing in his presence any of the offenses
defined in the Code.
 The arresting forest officer or employee shall thereafter deliver within six hours
from the time of the arrest and seizure, the offender and the confiscated rest
products, tools and equipments to, and file the proper complaint with, the
appropriate official designated by law to conduct preliminary investigations and
file information in court.
 The Secretary may deputized any member or unit of police agencies, barrio
officials, or any qualified person to protect the forest and exercise the power or
authority provided by law.

9. Replevin

A procedure whereby seized goods may be provisionally restored to their owner

pending the outcome of an action to determine the rights of the parties concerned.

Property lawfully taken by virtue of legal processes is deemed to be in custodia legis

and is beyond the reach of replevin.