Question & AnswerQ&A (DENR ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 99-21)
The main purpose of DENR Administrative Order No. 99-21 is to prescribe revised guidelines for the strict implementation of the environmental protection provisions found in R.A. No. 1273, P.D. No. 705, and P.D. No. 1067, specifically concerning the preservation of ecological balance and protection of the environment through proper surveying and demarcation of lands adjacent to rivers, streams, and other bodies of water.
The applicant must agree that a strip of forty meters wide starting from the bank on each side of any river or stream found on the land applied for shall be demarcated and preserved as permanent timberland exclusively for planting trees of known economic value, and he shall not clear or utilize this strip for ordinary farming even after issuance of patent or lease.
Twenty-meter strips of land must be preserved along the edge of the normal high waterline of rivers and streams with channels of at least five meters wide, as well as strips of mangroves or swamp lands at least twenty meters wide along shorelines facing oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water.
It states that the banks of rivers and streams and shores of seas, throughout their entire length, within a zone of 3 meters in urban areas, 20 meters in agricultural areas, and 40 meters in forest areas, are subject to easement of public use for purposes of recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing, and salvage.
They are surveyed by demarcating a 40-meter wide strip from the banks on each side of any river or stream found to be preserved as permanent timberland, and by marking easement zones of 3 meters in urban areas, 20 meters in agricultural areas, and 40 meters in forest areas along rivers, streams, seas, and lakes.
Untitled private lands for registration under PD 1529 shall be surveyed according to the Revised Manual of Land Surveying Regulations, with easement for bank protection of 3 meters in urban areas and 20 meters in agricultural areas marked as dotted lines. Surveys proceed only after a CENRO investigation confirming continuous and exclusive possession by the claimant or predecessor.
Such survey returns shall be returned to the geodetic engineer concerned for compliance before approval can proceed.
They must be amended to conform to the provisions of R.A. No. 1273, P.D. No. 705, and P.D. No. 1067 relating to preservation and easement of strips along waterways or shorelines.
For administratively titled lands, 3-meter wide strips in urban areas must be demarcated and noted for easement and bank protection. For judicially titled lands, 3 meters in urban and 20 meters in agricultural areas must be indicated with dotted lines on subdivision plans. Such strips are preserved, cannot be subdivided again, and count towards open space requirements in subdivisions for residential, commercial, or industrial purposes.