QuestionsQuestions (Republic Act No. 8991)
RA 8991 is the “Batanes Protected Area Act of 2000.” It establishes the Batanes Group of Islands and islets as a protected area and its peripheral waters as buffer zones, and provides for management and related rules.
The State policy is to regulate utilization of fishery and marine resources, aggregates, wild flora and fauna, culture/indigenous knowledge, and historical artifacts/sites; ensure continuity of endangered/threatened/rare species; and preserve Ivatan heritage and the scenic, cultural, historical, and archaeological features and terrestrial/marine ecosystems for the benefit of its people and humankind.
It declares that the classified forest lands comprising the Batanes Protected Area shall be within the national park classification under the Constitution.
They remain as such and may be disposed of under existing law.
Its scope is defined by technical boundary coordinates under Section 3, covering an approximate area of 213,578 hectares, including how it encloses specified points by latitude and longitude.
Private lands inside the protected area are governed as part of the protected area subject to its rules and regulations; however, penal provisions under the Act or PAMB rules do not apply to private lands unless specifically stated.
Forest lands are lands within the Batanes Protected Area that are public lands, not ancestral lands or domains, and not classified as alienable and disposable—thus placing them within the constitutional classification of a national park.
Ancestral lands and domains are lands and natural resources occupied/possessed by indigenous cultural communities since time immemorial, continuously to the present except interruptions like war, force majeure, or displacement by force/deceit/stealth; they include adjacent areas necessary for welfare. The implication is they are deemed never to have been public and are to be identified/delineated/titled under IPRA (RA 8371).
Tenured migrants are those who actually and continuously occupied forest lands within the protected area before June 30, 1987 and are substantially dependent for livelihood.
RA 8991 provides that, using humanitarian considerations, provision for transfer to multiple-use zones or buffer zones may be accomplished.
The PAMB is the policy-making body. It issues rules and regulations, sets criteria/fees for permits, resolves conflicts through culturally sensitive means, adopts management plans, oversees the PASu office, deputizes individuals for enforcement, and approves funding/budget proposals and funds for the protected area.
The Protected Area Superintendent prepares it in consultation with DENR offices and local experts/organizations. The plan is reviewed, approved, and adopted by the PAMB and certified by the Secretary of DENR, mandatory if compliant with DENR national rules. DENR cannot revise/modify it without prior consultation with the PAMB.
Within one (1) year from the effectivity of RA 8991, a Management Plan must have been put into effect, following NIPAS planning strategy and the procedure stated in the Act.
Zoning must give primary consideration to the traditional zones used and recognized by Ivatan communities and tenured migrants unless such uses are detrimental to biodiversity and protection of the protected area’s natural characteristics.
Section 9 enumerates prohibited acts (e.g., unauthorized hunting/removal of wild flora/fauna; mineral exploration/extraction; quarry operations without permits; commercial fishing in municipal waters; prohibited fishing methods; unauthorized cutting/removal of timber/forest products; and prohibited acts affecting topography, roads/scenic objects, structures, boundary marks, occupancy without instruments, waste dumping, harming protected species, exotic species introduction, cyanide/live fish export without negative certification). Penalties vary by category, including fines, imprisonment, restoration/rehabilitation, and special penalties for aliens and for certain fishing offenses.
RA 8991 imposes imprisonment (6 years and 1 day to 10 years) and/or a fine, with deportation after sentence; if using a vessel of foreign registry, confiscation of the vessel in favor of government applies. Similar penalty and perpetual disqualification applies to Filipino citizens who knowingly aid/abet.
Within 30 days from effectivity, DOJ appoints a special prosecutor to whom all cases of violations of laws/rules/regulations in the protected area shall be assigned. It must coordinate with PAMB and PASu and assist in training wardens and rangers in arrest and criminal procedure.