BALANACAN CASE

Letter – Sinumpaan
Salaysay tungkol sa
aligasyon na pagtambak
ng lupa at pagsira ng
kahoy (Counter-
Affidavit)
Sender: Nilda Moldon
Date: May 12, 2021
Subpoena
PENRO VS ROMEO RIOFLORIDO, DANTE M. JAO, PACIFICO M. MOLDON,
CARLOS NAGUTOM, MICHAEL R. PIELAGO, IAN PIEDAD
FOR: Violations of
1) Sec. 3, PD 953
2) Sec 69, PD 705, as amended
3) Sec 27 & 28 of RA 9275
4) RA 9147

AMENDMENT OF COMPLAINT-AFFIDAVIT
Complainant most respectfully moves for (leave of court) to amend its
Complaint-Affidavit in the matter to (add, correct, modify) (what?). This
amendment seeks to (ACMD) in the original complaint COA for violation of pd
705, Sec. 16.

NOTES:

 Sec. 16, paragraph 8 of PD 705 (Areas needed for forest purposes), as amended
cannot be the basis of COA, but the same is necessary for establishing
the allegation that:
-although the property has been determined as A&D= 705.16 provides
that lands, even if they are below eighteen per cent (18%) in slope, are needed for forest
purposes, and may not, therefore, be classified as alienable and
disposable land = areas needed for forest purposes
- 8. Strips of mangrove or swamplands at least twenty (20) meters wide, along shorelines
facing oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water, and strips of land at least twenty (20) meters
wide facing lakes (this allegation should appear)
  Section 16 in relation to Sec 69 (Unlawful Occupation or Destruction of
Forest Lands)= areas needed for forest purposes
Any person who enters and occupies or possesses, or makes kaingin for his own private use
or for others any forest land without authority under a license agreement, lease, license or
permit, or in any manner destroys such forest land or part thereof, or causes any damage to
the timber stand and other products and forest growths found therein, or who assists, aids or
abets any other person to do so, or sets a fire, or negligently permits a fire to be set in any
forest land

Elements:
1) Enters, occupies, possess, or makes kaingin
2) For his own private use and for others
3) Any forest land.
4) Without authority under license agreement, lease, license or permit
-destroys forest land or part thereof
-causes damage to timber stand and other products and forest growths found
therein

ISSUE: Whether “Areas needed for forest purposes” included in the term “Any
Forest Land”. =LEGAL NATURE OF MANGROVE IN THE CASE.
Whether Mangrove included in Areas needed for forest purposes. (Mangrove as
part of public forest swamps= NOT A&D; BUT mangroves part of public
agricultural lands= therefore A&D =MAY BE ACQUIRED BY PRIVATE
OWNERSHIP= )

HELD: forest land Section 3. Definitions.

(a) Public forest is the mass of lands of the public domain which has not been the subject of
the present system of classification for the determination of which lands are needed for
forest purposes and which are not.

(b) (b) Permanent forest or forest reserves refer to those lands of the public domain which
have been the subject of the present system of classification and determined to be
needed for forest purposes. = (g) Forest reservations refer to forest lands which have
been reserved by the President of the Philippines for any specific purpose or purposes.

(c) Alienable and disposable lands refer to those lands of the public domain which have been
the subject of the present system of classification and declared as not needed for forest
purposes.

(d) Forest lands include the public forest, the permanent forest or forest reserves, and forest
reservations.
 (o) Mangrove is a term applied to the type of forest occurring on tidal flat along the sea
coast, extending along streams where the water is brackish.

(p) Kaingin is a portion of the forest land, whether occupied or not, which is subjected to
shifting and/or permanent slash-and-burn cultivation having little or no provision to
prevent soil erosion.

NOTE: IS THE PROPERTY SUBJECT OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF

CLASSIFICATION? IS THERE DETERMINATION THAT SUCH PROPERTY IS
NEEDED FOR FOREST PURPOSES? decree those classified and determined not to be
needed for forest purposes as alienable and disposable lands (BUREAU OF LANDS);  Provided,
That mangrove and other swamps not needed for shore protection and suitable for
fishpond purposes shall be released to, and be placed under the administrative
jurisdiction and management of, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
Those still to be classified under the Present system shall continue to remain as part of the public
forest.

SIDE NOTE:

---if slope is 18% or over = NOT A&D = XPN= in section 16- even if <18% slope= still not
A&D

C.A. 141= only agricultural lands were allowed to be alienated; disposition

Montano v. Insular Government

-Mangrove swamps were thus considered agricultural lends and so susceptible of
private ownership.
Jocson v. Director of Forestry
-
Heirs of Amnategui v. Director of Forestry,[13] the Court was more positive when it held,
again through Justice Gutierrez:

"The Heirs of Jose Armantegui maintain that Lot No. 885 cannot be classified as
forest land because it is not thickly forested but is a 'mangrove swamp.' Although
considering that 'mangrove swamp' is included in the classification of forest land in
accordance with Section 1820 of the Revised Administrative Code, the petitioners argue
that no big trees classified in Section 1821 of the said Code as first, second and third
groups are found on the land in question. Furthermore, they contend that Lot 885, even if
it is a mangrove swamp, is still subject to land registration proceedings because the
property had been in actual possession of private persons for many years, and therefore,
said land was already 'private land’ better adapted and more valuable for agricultural than
for forest purposes and not required by the interests to be kept under forest
classification."

"The petition is without merit.

"A forested area classified as forest land of the public domain does not lose such
classification simply because loggers or settlers may have stripped it of its forest cover.
Parcels of land classified as forest land may actually be covered with grass or planted to
crops by kaingin cultivators or other farmers. 'Forested lands' do not have to be on
mountains or in out-of-the-way places. Swampy areas covered by mangrove trees, nipa
palms, and other trees growing in brackish or sea water may also be classified as
forest land. The Classification is descriptive of its legal nature or status and does not have
to be descriptive of what the land actually looks like. Unless and until the land classified
as 'forest' is released in an official proclamation to that effect so that it may form part of
the disposable agricultural lands of the public domain, the rules on confirmation of
imperfect titles do not apply."

Vallarta v. Intermediate Appellate Court.

Court agreed with the Solicitor General's submission that the land in dispute, which he
described as "swamp mangrove" or "forestal land," were not private properties and so
not registerable.

EN BANC
[ G.R. No. L-32266, February 27, 1989 ]
THE DIRECTOR OF FORESTRY, PETITIONER, VS. RUPERTO S.
VILLAREAL, RESPONDENT.

whether mangrove swamps are agricultural lands or forest lands.

As for timber or forest lands, the Revised Administrative Code states as follows:

"Sec. 1826. Regulation setting apart forest reserves - Revocation of same. - Upon the
recommendation of the Director of Forestry, with the approval of the Department Head,
the President of the Philippines may set apart forest reserves from the public lands and he
shall by proclamation declare the establishment of such reserves and the boundaries
thereof, and thereafter such forest reserves shall not be entered, sold, or otherwise
disposed of, but shall remain as such for forest uses, and shall be administered in the
same manner as public forests.

"The President of the Philippines may in like manner by proclamation alter or modify the
boundaries of any forest reserve from time to time, or revoke any such proclamation, and
upon such revocation such forest reserve shall be and become part of the public lands as
though such proclamation had never been made.

"Sec. 1827. Assignment of forest land for agricultural purposes. - Lands in public

forests, not including forest reserves, upon the certification of the Director of Forestry
that said lands are better adapted and more valuable for agricultural than for forest
purposes and not required by the public interests to be kept under forest, shall be declared
by the Department Head to be agricultural lands."
With these principles in mind, we reach the following conclusion:

Mangrove swamps or manglares should be understood as comprised within the public

forests of the Philippines as defined in the aforecited Section 1820 of the Administrative
Code of 1917. The legislature having so determined, we have no authority to ignore or
modify its decision, and in effect veto it, in the exercise of our own discretion. The
statutory definition remains unchanged to date and, no less noteworthy, is accepted and
invoked by the executive department. More importantly, the said provision has not been
challenged as arbitrary or unrealistic or unconstitutional, assuming the requisite
conditions, to justify our judicial intervention and scrutiny. The law is thus presumed
valid and so must be respected. We repeat our statement in the Amunategui case that
the classification of mangrove swamps as forest Lands is descriptive of
its legal nature or status and does not have to be descriptive of what
the land actually looks like. That determination having been made and no cogent
argument having been raised to annul it, we have no duty as judges but to apply it. And
so we shall.