REVISED

FORESTRY
CODE
Presidential Decree No. 705
 GOVERNING
LAW
● Law governing the management and
utilization of forest lands
● Issued on May 1975
Purpose of this law
STATE POLICY
Section 2

● The multiple uses of forest lands shall be oriented to the development and
progress requirements of the country, the advancement of science and
technology, and the public welfare;
● Land classification and survey shall be systematized and hastened;
● The establishment of wood-processing plants shall be encouraged and
rationalized; and
● The protection, development and rehabilitation of forest lands shall be
emphasized so as to ensure their continuity in productive condition.
DEFINITION OF
TERMS
section 3
 Definition of
Forest
Classification is descriptive of its
legal nature or status and does
not have to be descriptive of what the
land actually looks like
 Permanent forest or Forest
PUBLIC
reserves
FOREST
 Alienable and
Disposable Lands
GRAZING
LAND
 Forest
reservations
National Park
Game Refuge or Bird
Sanctuary
Marine Park
SEASHORE
PARK
WATERSHE WATERSHE CRITICAL
D D WATERSHE
RESERVATI D
ON
MANGROVE
KAINGIN
 FOREST
PRODUCTS
INDUSTRIAL
TREE TREE FARM
PLANTATION
LICENSE
a privilege granted by the State to a person to utilize
forest resources within any forest land, without any
right of occupation and possession over the same, to
the exclusion of others, or establish and operate a
wood-processing plant, or conduct any activity
involving the utilization of any forest resources.

LICENSE AGREEMENT
a privilege granted by the State to a person to utilize forest
resources within any forest land with the right of
possession and occupation thereof to the exclusion of
others, except the government, but with the
corresponding obligation to develop, protect and rehabilitate
the same in accordance with the terms and conditions set
forth in said agreement.
PERMIT

short-term privilege or authority

granted by the State to a person to
utilize any limited forest resources or
undertake a limited activity within
any forest land without any right of
occupation and possession therein.
FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
PRIVATE RIGHTS

titled rights of ownership under existing laws, and

in the case of national minority to rights of
possession existing at the time a license is granted
under this Code, which possession may include
places of abode and worship, burial grounds, and
old clearings, but exclude productive forest
inclusive of logged-over areas, commercial forests
and established plantations of the forest trees and
trees of economic values.
ORGANIZATI
ONAL
STRUCTURE
Department of Environment
and Natural Resources
Shall be primarily
responsible for the
implementation of the Shall assure the
policy of the State availability and
sustainability of the
country’s natural
resources through
Shall increase judicious use and
productivity of natural systematic restoration
resources to meet or replacement
demands of growing
population
Ysmael v Deputy Executive Secretary GR No. 79538

Pursuant to the instructions of the President and

memorandum of the Minister of Natural Resources to stop all
logging operations in Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino Provinces
to conserve country’s remaining forest resources

Petitioner sought reinstatement of its timber license which

was cancelled
 Policy determination by the
executive branch on the
proper management of
forest resources cannot as a
rule be interfered with by the
courts
LGU’s authority to manage
and control communal
forests within their
territorial jurisdiction is
subject to supervision,
control and review of the
DENR
 Forestlands, although under
the management of the DENR,
are not exempt from the
territorial application of
municipal laws
FOREST MANAGEMENT
BUREAU
section 4 the Bureau of Forestry, the Reforestation
Administration, the Southern Cebu Reforestation
Development Project, and the Parks and Wildlife
Office, including applicable appropriations, records,
equipment, property and such personnel as may be
necessary, are hereby merged into a single agency
to be known as the Bureau of Forest
Development
 DIRECTOR

Assistant Director Assistant Director Assistant Director

➔ Appointed by the President

➔ natural born citizen of the Philippines,
➔ at least 30 years of age,
➔ holder of at least a Bachelor's Degree in Forestry or its
equivalent, and
➔ a registered forester.
(Section 6)
 REVIEW
section 8

❏ By the DENR Secretary

❏ Decision shall become final and executory after the lapse of
30 days from receipt by the aggrieved party of the said
decision
❏ UNLESS, appealed by the President
❏ Decision of the DENR Secretary may not be reviewed by the
court except through a special civil action for certiorari or
prohibition
DOCTRINE OF EXHAUSTION OF ADMINISTRATIVE
REMEDIES
Calls for resort 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
 Established doctrine that decisions and orders of
administrative agencies have upon their finality the force and
binding effect of a final judgement within the doctrine of res
judicata
 JURISDICTION OF THE BUREAU
section 5
all forestlands, grazing lands and all forest reservations

Bureau shall be responsible for the:

● Protection, development, management, regeneration, and
reforestation of forest lands;
● regulation and supervision of the operation of licensees, lessees and
permittees for the taking or use of forest products therefrom or the
occupancy or use thereof;
● implementation of multiple use and sustained yield management in
forest lands
● protection, development and preservation of national parks, marine
parks, game refuges and wildlife
● implementation of measures and programs to prevent kaingin and
managed occupancy of forest and grazing lands
● effective, efficient and economic classification of lands of the public
domain
● enforcement of forestry, reforestation, parks, game and wildlife laws,
rules, and regulations.
CLASSIFICATI
ON AND
SURVEY
 SYSTEM OF LAND CLASSIFICATION
section 13
DENR secretary

❏ shall study, devise, determine and prescribe the criteria, guidelines

and methods for the proper and accurate classification and survey
of all lands of the public domain into agricultural, industrial or
commercial, residential, resettlement, mineral, timber or forest, and
grazing lands, and into such other classes as now or may hereafter
be provided by law, rules and regulate
❏ Determine which of the unclassified lands of public domain are
needed for forest purposes and declare them permanent forest to
form part of the forest reserves

❏ Shall decree those classified and determined not to be needed for

forest purposes as alienable and disposable lands the
administrative jurisdiction and management of which shall be
transferred to the Bureau of Lands
❏ 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.
Existing Pasture Leases and Permits in Forest Lands
Section 14

❏ Forest lands which have been the subject of pasture leases and permits
shall remain classified as forest lands until classified as grazing lands
under the criteria, guidelines and methods of classification to be
prescribed by the DENR Secretary

❏ Provided, That the administration, management and disposition of

grazing lands shall remain under the Bureau.
Public Forest or forest reserves
are not capable of private
appropriation
 TOPOGRAPHY
section 15

No land of the public domain eighteen per

cent (18%) in slope or over shall be classified
as alienable and disposable,

nor any forest land fifty per cent (50%) in

slope or over, as grazing land.
AREAS NEEDED FOR FOREST
PURPOSES
Section 16
1. Areas less than 250 hectares which are far from, or are not contiguous
with, any certified alienable and disposable land;

2. Isolated patches of forest of at least five (5) hectares with rocky terrain,
or which protect a spring for communal use;

3. Areas which have already been reforested;

4. Areas within forest concessions which are timbered or have good

residual stocking to support an existing, or approved to be established,
wood processing plant;
AREAS NEEDED FOR FOREST
PURPOSES
Section 16
5. Ridge tops and plateaus regardless of size found within, or
surrounded wholly or partly by, forest lands where headwaters emanate;

6. Appropriately located road-rights-or-way;

7. Twenty-meter strips of land along the edge of the normal high

waterline of rivers and streams with channels of at least five (5) meters
wide;
AREAS NEEDED FOR FOREST
PURPOSES
Section 16
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;

9. Areas needed for other purposes, such as national parks, national

historical sites, game refuges and wildlife sanctuaries, forest station
sites, and others of public interest; and

10. Areas previously proclaimed by the President as forest reserves,

national parks, game refuge, bird sanctuaries, national shrines, national
historic sites:
RESERVATION IN FORESTLANDS AND OFF-
SHORE AREAS
Section 18
➔ President of the Philippines may establish within any lands of the public
domain, forest reserve and forest reservation for the national park
system, for preservation as critical watersheds, or for any other purpose,
and modify boundaries of existing ones.

➔ The Secretary of DENR may reserve and establish any portion of the
public forest or forest reserve as site or experimental forest for use of the
Forest Research Institute.

➔ When public interest so requires, any off-shore area needed for the
preservation and protection of its educational, scientific, historical,
ecological and recreational values including the marine life found therein,
shall be established as marine parks.
 Utilization &
Management
]]
 Multiple Use
Only the utilization, exploitation, occupation or possession of any
forest lands and grazing lands, or any activity therein, involving one or
more of its resources, which will produce the optimum benefits to
the development and progress of the country and the public welfare,
without impairment or with the least injury to its resources, shall be
allowed.

That critical watersheds, national

parks and established experimental
forests shall not be subject to
commercial logging.
Section No person may utilize, exploit, occupy, possess or conduct any activity
within any forest and grazing land … unless he had been authorized to do
under a license agreement, license, lease or permit.

20. Provided, That when the national interest so requires, the President may
amend, modify, replace, or rescind any contract, concession, permit,
license, or any other form of privilege granted.
License Agreement,
License, Lease or
Permit
 LICENSE PERMIT
LEASE LICENSE AGREEMENT
-a privilege -a short-term
-a privilege granted to a privilege granted
-a privilege granted to a
granted to a person to utilize to a person to
person to utilize forest
person to occupy forest utilize any limited
resources, with the
and possess in resources forest resources
right of possession &
consideration of within forest or undertake a
occupation with the
specified rental, land,without limited activity
corresponding
any forest land of any right within any forest
obligation to develop,
the public domain occupation & land without any
protect and rehabilitate
to undertake nay possession. right of
the same in accordance
authorized activity occupation &
with the provisions of
therein possession
the agreement
 TIMBER
The duration of the privilege to harvest timber in any
particular forest land under a license agreement or
license shall be fixed and determined in accordance with
the annual allowable cut. . .

The maximum period of any privilege to harvest timber

is twenty-five (25) years, renewable for a period, not
exceeding twenty-five (25) years, necessary to utilize all
the remaining commercial quantity or harvestable
timber either from the unlogged or logged-over area.
 Sectio
n The size of the forest lands which may be the subject of
timber utilization shall be limited to that which a person
may effectively utilize and develop for a period of fifty (50)

28.
years, considering the cutting cycle, the past performance
of the applicant and his capacity not only to utilize but,
more importantly, to protect and manage the whole area,
and the requirements of processing plants existing or to
Size of Forest Concession be installed in the region.
 Reforestation FOREST LANDS TO BE REFORESTED:

a) Bare or grass-covered tracts of forest lands with at least 50% slope;

b) Bare or grass-covered tracts of forest lands with less than 50% slope, but with soil so highly
erodible as to make grass cover inadequate for soil erosion;

c) Brushlands or tracts of forest lands generally covered with brush, which need to be
developed to increase their productivity;

d) Open tracts of forest lands interspersed with patches of forest;

e) Denuded or inadequately timbered areas proclaimed by the President as forest reserves and
reservations as critical watersheds, national parks, game refuge, bird sanctuaries, national
shrines, national historic sites;

f) Inadequately-stock forest lands within forest concessions;

g) Portions of areas covered by pasture leases or permits needing immediate reforestation;

h) River banks, easements, road right-of-ways, deltas, swamps, former river beds, and beaches.
 Section A lease for a period of 25 years, renewable for another period not
exceeding 25 years, for the establishment of an industrial tree
34. plantation or a tree farm as may be granted by DENR, to any person
qualified, with a minimum area of 1,000 hectares for industrial tree
plantation and 100 hectares for tree farm.
Industrial tree plantation
and tree farms. No lease shall be granted within critical watersheds. Any suitable
area covered by a timber license agreement or permit shall be
prioritized.

INCENTIVES. Shall be given to encourage persons to

engage in tree farms
 Forest
Control of concession area

Regulation of timber utilization in all other classes of lands

Protectio and of wood-processing plants

n
Swamplands and mangrove forests

Visitorial power

Authority of officers

Mining operations

Mineral reservations
 Special Uses
No forest land 50% in slope or
over may be utilized for pasture
purposes
Section 54.
Forest land which are being
Pasture in Forest utilized for pasture shall be
Land maintained with sufficient grass
cover to protect soil, water and
other forest resources.
 Section 55.
Wildlife
Wildlife may be
destroyed, killed,
consumed, eaten or
otherwise disposed
of, without the
necessity of permit,
for the protection of
life, health, safety
and property, and
the convenience of
the people.
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Section 56.
Recreation
The Bureau shall identify
and provide for the
protection of scenic
areas in all forest lands
which are potentially La Mesa Nature Reserve and EcoPark

valuable for recreation

and tourism.
 Sec. 57. Other special
uses of forest lands

Forest lands may be leased for a period not exceeding

twenty-five (25) years, renewable upon the expiration
thereof for a similar period, or held under permit, for the
establishment of sawmills, lumber yards, timber depots,
logging camps, rights-of-way, or for the construction of
sanatoria, bathing establishments, camps, salt works, or
other beneficial purposes which do not in any way impair
the forest resources therein.
 Qualifications
Section 58 Section 59
Diffusion of Benefits Citizenship

shall be diffused to as many applicant with more Filipino

qualified and deserving equity and participation shall be
applicants as possible preferred

Section 61 Section 60
Financial and
Transfers
Technical Capability
 Unless authorized by the
Department Head, no licensee,
lessee, or permittee may
transfer, exchange, sell or
Section 61. convey his license agreement,
license, lease or permit, or any
Transfers of his rights or interests therein,
or any of his assets used in
connection therewith
 The Department Head,
Section 62. may in the national
Service interest, allowforest
products licensees,
Contracts lessees, or permittees
to enter into service
contracts
 Terms to Remember
Conveyance
- Any mode or type or class of vehicle or
craft or any other means used for
transportation, used for or in taking
and/or maintaining temporary or
permanent possession or control,
gathering, collecting, processing,
disposing or, or otherwise
transporting, moving or transferring
illegal forest products.

DENR AO No. 97-32, October 10, 1997

 Forest
Products
Refers to timber including
lumber, pulpwood,
firewood, bark, resin, gum,
woo, oil, honey beeswax,
nipa, rattan, charcoal or
other forest growth, such
as but not limited to grass,
shrub, flowering plants in
forest lands and others.

DENR AO No. 97-32, October 10, 1997

 Illegal
Forest
Products
Forest products that are removed, cut,,
collected, processed:
a. Without requisite authorization or
permit; or
b. With incomplete required
supporting documents;
c. With genuine authorization and
permits that have expired validity,
cancelled or contain forged
entries; or
d. With fake authorizations, permits
and/or supporting document.

DENR AO No. 97-32, October 10, 1997

 CRIMINAL OFFENSES

Section 68 Section 69 Section 70 Section 71 Section 72

Cutting, Gathering Unlawful Pasturing Illegal Occupation Destruction of

and/or Collecting Occupation or Livestock of National Parks Wildlife
Timber or Other System and
Destruction of Resources.
Products Without Recreation Areas
License Forest Lands and Vandalism
Therein
 CRIMINAL OFFENSES

Section 73 Section 74 Section 75 Section 76 Section 77

Survey by Misclassificatio Tax Declaration Coercion and Unlawful

Unauthorized n and Survey by on Real Influence Possession of
Person Government Property Implements
Official or and Devices
Employee Used by Forest
Officers
CRIMINAL OFFENSES

Section 78 Section 79

Payment, Sale of Wood

Collection and Products
Remittance of
Forest Charges
GR No. 120365, Dec. 17, 1996, 265 SCRA
721
Facts: Accused-Appellant Wilson Que appeals from his conviction for
violation of Section 68 of P.D 705

Two weeks before March 8, 1994, a member of the Provincial Task Force on
illegal logging received an information that a ten-wheeler truck loaded with
illegally cut lumber will pass through Ilocos Norte. Acting on said
information, members of the Provincial Task Force went on patrol and
eventually saw the truck. The police then checked the cargo and found that it
contained coconut slabs, but inserted therein were sewn lumber, as
admitted by Que himself. When required to show permit, Que failed to do
so, all he could show was a certification from the CENRO that he legally
acquired the coconut slabs thus was charged for violation of Sec. 68 of PD
705.

Petitioner contends that Sec. 68 did not indicate the particular documents
necessary to make possession legal, and that other laws and regulations did
not exist at the time of the enactment of said law.
Ruling

The Court held that the phrase should be construed to refer to laws
and regulations existing at the time of possession of timber or
other forest products.

DENR Administrative Order No. 59 series of 1993 specifies the

documents required for the transport of timber and other forest
products.
The Court also held that there are two distinct and
separate offenses punished under Section 68 of P.D.
705:

1. Cutting, gathering, collecting or removing timber

and other forest products from any forest land, or
timber from alienable or disposable public land, or
from private land without any authority; and

2. Possession of timber or other forest products

without the legal documents required under
existing forest laws and regulations.
 Section 80. Arrest;
Institution of Criminal
Action
A forest officer or
Reports and
employee of the
complaints regarding
Bureau shall arrest
the commission of any
even without
of the offenses not
warrant any person
committed in the
who has committed
presence of any forest
or is committing in
officer or employee,
his presence any of the
shall immediately be
offenses defined in
investigated
this Chapter
 In Mustang Lumber, Inc. v.
Search CA, it was held that the
search conducted on
and moving vehicle could be
lawfully conducted
Seizure without a search
warrant. (Section 80, PD
Without 705)

Warrant
 Forest products
confiscated
upon authority
Property lawfully
taken by virtue of of the DENR
legal process is Secretary is
deemed to be in
custodia legis and is beyond the
beyond the reach
of replevin. reach of
replevin

End
 Section 68, as 1. Cutting, gathering, collecting or
removing of Timber or other
amended by EO forest products from any forest
land, or timber from alienable or
277.
Offenses punished disposable public land without
any authority.
2. Possession of Timber or other
forest products without the legal
documents required under
existing forest laws and
regulations.

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Sec. 68A
Sec. 68B
EO 23
 Section 69
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.

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 Section 70
any person, who shall, without authority under a lease or permit,
graze or cause to graze livestock in forest lands, grazing lands and
alienable and disposable lands which have not as yet been
disposed of in accordance with the Public Land Act: Provided, That
in case the offender is a corporation, partnership or association,
the officers and directors thereof shall be liable.

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 Section 71
Any person who shall, without permit, occupy for any length of
time any portion of the national parks system or shall, in any
manner, cut, destroy, damage or remove timber or any species
of vegetation or forest cover and other natural resources found
therein, or shall mutilate, deface or destroy objects of natural
beauty or of scenic value within areas in the national parks
system

any person who, without proper permit shall hunt, capture or

kill any kind of bird, fish or wild animal life within any area in the
national parks system

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 Section 73
any person who shall, without permit to survey from the Director,
enter any forest lands, whether covered by a license agreement,
lease, license, or permit, or not, and conduct or undertake a
survey for whatever purpose.

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 Section 74
Any public officer or employee who knowingly surveys,
classifies, or recommends the release of forest lands as alienable
and disposable lands contrary to the criteria and standards
established in this Code, or the rules and regulations promulgated
hereunder.

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 Section 75
any public officer or employee who shall issue a tax declaration
on real property without a certification from the Director of Forest
Development and the Director of Lands or their duly designated
representatives that the area declared for taxation is alienable and
disposable lands, unless the property is titled or has been occupied
and possessed by members of the national cultural minorities prior
to July 4, 1955.

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 Section 77
any person who shall, without authority from the Director or his authorized
representative, make, manufacture, or has in his possession any
government marking, hatchet or other marking implement, or any marker,
poster, or other devices officially used by officers of the Bureau for the
marking or identification of timber or other products,
or any duplicate, counterfeit, or imitation thereof, or make or apply a
government mark on timber or any other forest products by means of any
authentic or counterfeit device, or alter, deface,
or remove government marks or signs, from trees, logs, stumps, firewood or
other forest products, or destroy, deface, remove or disfigure any such mark,
sign, poster or warning notices set by the Bureau to designate the boundaries
of cutting areas, municipal or city forest or pasture, classified timber land,
forest reserve, and areas under the national park system or to make any false
mark or imitation of any mark or sign herein indicated

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 Section 78
Any person who fails to pay the amount due and payable under the
provisions of this Code, the National Internal Revenue Code, or the rules and
regulations promulgated thereunder.

Any person who fails or refuses to remit to the proper authorities said forest
charges collectible pursuant to the provisions of this Code or the National
Internal Revenue Code, or who delays, obstructs or prevents the same, or
who orders, causes or effects the transfer or diversion of the funds for
purposes other than those specified in this Code

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 Section 79
No person shall sell or offer for sale any log, lumber, plywood or other
manufactured wood products in the international or domestic market
unless he complies with grading rules and established or to be established by
the Government.

Every dealer in lumber and other building material covered by this Code shall
issue an invoice for each sale of such material and such invoice shall state
that the kind, standard and size of material sold to each purchaser in exactly
the same as described in the invoice.

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 EO No. 277 further added:
Sec. 68-A. Administrative Authority of the Department
Head or His Duly Authorized Representative to Order
Confiscation

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Sec. 68A
Sec. 68B
EO 23
 Sec. 68-B. Rewards of
Informants

Shall be given a reward in the amount of 20%

of the proceeds of the confiscated forest
products.

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Sec. 68A
Sec. 68B
EO 23
 Executive Order 23

This declares a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of timber in the natural
and residual forests of the entire country and creates the Anti-Illegal Logging
Task Force.
- Prohibits the DENR from issuing and renewing logging contracts and trees
cutting permits in all natural and residual forests.
- Log ban is in place indefinitely.
- Exceptions: clearing or road right-of-way by the DPWH, site preparations for
tree plantations, tree cutting practices pursuant to IPRA Law

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Sec. 68A
Sec. 68B
EO 23
THANK
YOU!