QuestionsQuestions (EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 277)
Executive Order No. 277 is an issuance by the President (Corazon C. Aquino) amending Section 68 of P.D. No. 705 (Revised Forestry Code). Its purpose is to penalize possession of timber/forest products without the required legal documents, authorize confiscation of illegally cut/gathered/removed/possessed forest products, and grant rewards to informers of violations.
EO No. 277 amended Section 68 of P.D. No. 705, as amended.
The law penalizes: (1) cutting, gathering, collecting, or removing timber/forest products from forest land or timber from alienable/disposable public land or from private land without authority; and (2) possessing timber or other forest products without the legal documents required under existing forest laws and regulations.
Yes. It expressly penalizes the possession of timber or other forest products without the legal documents required by existing forestry laws and regulations, regardless of whether the accused personally cut or gathered the timber.
The amended Section 68 provides that the offender shall be punished with the penalties imposed under Articles 309 and 310 of the Revised Penal Code.
In the case of partnerships, associations, or corporations, the officers who ordered the cutting, gathering, collection or possession shall be liable.
If such officers are aliens, they shall, in addition to the penalty, be deported without further proceedings on the part of the Commission on Immigration and Deportation.
The court shall further order the confiscation in favor of the government of the timber/forest products cut, gathered, collected, removed, or possessed, as well as the machinery, equipment, implements and tools illegally used in the area where the timber or forest products are found.
EO No. 277 adds: (1) Section 68-A authorizing the Department Head or duly authorized representative to order confiscation administratively; and (2) Section 68-B granting rewards to informants.
The Department Head or his duly authorized representative may order confiscation of forest products illegally cut, gathered, removed, possessed, or abandoned, and all conveyances used (by land, water, or air) in the commission of the offense, and dispose of them in accordance with pertinent laws, regulations, or policies.
Any person who provides information leading to the apprehension and conviction of any offender for any violation of the forestry laws, rules and regulations, or for confiscation of forest products, shall receive a reward.
Twenty percentum (20%) of the proceeds of the confiscated forest products.
It is triggered by information that leads to the apprehension and conviction of the offender (and/or related to confiscation of forest products).
They are to be disposed of in accordance with pertinent laws, regulations, or policies on the matter.
It repeals or modifies, accordingly, all laws, orders, issuances, rules and regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent with EO No. 277.
It takes effect after fifteen (15) days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Philippines.
Possession without the legal documents required by existing forestry laws and regulations is itself a punishable act, not merely evidence of an earlier illegal act.