Nature and Purpose of the Production Sharing Agreement
- The Community Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA) is a production sharing agreement.
- It grants communities the privilege to manage, utilize, and conserve forest resources sustainably.
- The government retains a share of benefits through natural resource protection, rehabilitation, forest charges, fees, and taxes.
- Forest charges apply only to naturally grown timber and forest products under RA 7161.
- Government shares specifically cover products harvested from government-owned plantations.
Definition and Scope of Government-Owned Forest Plantations
- Includes plantations established or administered by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
- Includes plantations by Timber License Agreement (TLA) holders and other permittees under agreement terms.
- Includes plantations from cancelled tenurial instruments like IFMA, SIFMA, ITP, CBFMA.
- Encompasses other reforestation projects funded by the government.
- Utilization restricted to production forests or authorized zones within protected areas.
- Plantations must be located inside Community Based Forest Management areas and included in the Community Resources Management Framework (CRMF) and Annual Work Plan (AWP).
Government and Community Shares in Harvesting of Government-Owned Plantations
- Products or income from government plantations are shared among:
- People’s Organization (PO): 75% of gross sales.
- Government: 12.5% of gross sales.
- CBFM Fund (per EO 263 Sec. 8): 12% of gross sales.
- Volume harvested is jointly scaled by Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer (CENRO) and the People’s Organization following established rules.
- PO must remit government and CBFM Fund shares within two months after issuance of required certificates (Certificate of Timber Origin, Lumber Origin or Conveyance).
- Non-remittance may lead to suspension of harvesting operations.
- CENRO is responsible for forwarding government share to the National Treasury and depositing CBFM Fund share appropriately.
Implementation and Effectivity
- The order takes effect fifteen days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation.
- The order’s effectiveness is contingent upon submission to the University of the Philippines Law Center.
These provisions collectively provide a structured framework to ensure participatory, sustainable forest management with clear benefit-sharing and regulatory compliance mechanisms focused on sustaining forest plantations owned by the government within CBFM areas.