Moratorium on cutting coconut trees

The circular anchors the moratorium on Republic Act No. 8048, which adopts a policy of general prohibition on cutting of coconut trees.
Republic Act No. 8048 allows several exceptions to the prohibition, subject to verification and confirmation by PCA.
Because the exceptions depend on PCA’s final determination, PCA is vested with inherent power and prerogative to withhold determination to achieve the law’s objective of conserving productive coconut trees.

The circular suspends nationwide the issuance of Permits to Cut Coconut Trees (PCCTs) and the corresponding Transport-Transhipment Clearances (TTCs).
The suspension applies to all issuances of PCCTs and corresponding TTCs except only for the limited exceptions expressly stated.

Permits to cut may be issued only when the trees fall under any of the following limited circumstances:
- Trees are typhoon damaged in declared typhoon calamity areas.
- Trees pose threat and danger to life, limb or property.
- Trees are located in areas covered by land use conversion or crop conversion orders duly issued by the Department of Agrarian Reform or the Department of Agriculture, respectively.
- Trees are needed for personal use of the farmer for family housing or animal shed, not exceeding five trees.
No permits to cut are issued for circumstances other than the four limited exceptions stated.

When a permit to cut is issued under the circular’s policy, the corresponding TTC shall also be issued by PCA.
The corresponding TTC is issued only for the volume allowed by the capacity of a four-wheeler vehicle such as jeep/jeepney, pickup, flatbed “elf” type vehicle, and the likes.
The maximum load capacity for the permitted volume under the TTC is three (3) metric tons or 2,000 board feet of coco lumber.
The TTC is issued for transport within the province only and only for such volume.

The determination of the limited exceptions that may justify issuance of permits is made jointly by the:
- Provincial Coconut Development Manager (PCDM) of the PCA Provincial Office; and
- Barangay Chairman of the place where the trees to be cut are located; and
- Head of the Disaster Coordinating Council in the Province in the case of typhoon damaged trees.
The joint determination is the basis for the issuance of the permits.

All pending applications for PCCTs that do not conform to the limited exceptions upon the circular’s effectivity shall no longer be processed.
Application fees paid for such non-conforming pending applications shall be refunded to the applicant.
Refund requires submission of the original copy of the Official Receipt (OR) evidencing payment.

Each PCDM must prepare a report of all pending applications in the province upon effectivity of the circular.
The pending applications report must be submitted to the Office of the Administrator not later than five (5) days from receipt of the circular.
The pending applications report must contain the following information:
- application number
- name of applicant
- date of application
- official receipt number and amount paid for application fees
- location of coconut trees applied for cutting
- number of trees applied for cutting
- reason for cutting
Each PCDM must also prepare separate reports of all PCCTs and TTCs issued within fifteen (15) days prior to effectivity of the circular.
The separate reports of PCCTs and TTCs must be submitted to the Office of the Administrator not later than five (5) days from receipt of the circular.
For the report on TTCs, it must indicate the number of the PCCT corresponding to each TTC issued.
The report format for TTCs and PCCTs follows the same set of information enumerated for pending applications, with the added matching requirement for TTCs.

The circular is issued to arrest the ever increasing and unabated incidence of illegal cutting.
The circular’s inconsistent orders and issuances are modified or suspended during the effectivity of the circular.