Protection of Game and Fish Act

Definitions of “protected bird”

Section 2 defines “protected bird” to include insect-eating birds, song birds, and generally all wild birds.
Section 2 excludes from “protected bird” the birds commonly known as eagle, hawks, owls, English sparrows, candangaho (brown herons), crows, galancian and mayas.
Section 2 provides that “game birds” covered in the next section are deemed “protected” only during the respective close seasons established for them.

Close seasons and what the Interior Secretary can set

Section 3 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, subject to approval of the Governor-General, to establish a close season for all or any of the game birds listed, or for any other game bird specified by him.
Section 3 lists game birds, including: goose, duck, rail, coot, mudhen, gallinule, shore bird, plover, surf bird, snipe, woodcock, sandpiper, tattler, curlew, wild chicken, pheasant, quail, wild pigeon, pigeon, doves of all classes, hornbill, mound builder, brus turkey.
Section 3 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to establish a close season for fish or shellfish, or for deer, musk deer, tamaraw, squirrel, lemur, or any other mammal specified by him, except for wild pig.
Section 3 limits the exception on close-season coverage for mammals by stating that wild pig is excluded from the close-season setting power.

How close seasons may be structured

Section 4 allows a close season order to cover a particular portion or portions of each successive year.
Section 4 allows, if necessary for the public interest, extension over any single period of time not more than five years.

Coverage: where close seasons apply

Section 5 allows the close season order to apply to the entire Philippine Islands or to any specified province or other territorial division.
Section 5 allows fish or shellfish close seasons to be limited to a particular water or stream.

Publication and notice requirements

Section 6 requires that an order creating a close season be issued at least two months before its taking effect.
Section 6 requires that, if general, the order be published in the Official Gazette once a week for three consecutive weeks prior to the effectivity date.
Section 6 requires that, if the order applies to a province, municipality, or other territorial division, it be published once a week for three consecutive weeks in a local newspaper, if any.
Section 6 requires that copies be posted at the main entrance of the provincial and municipal buildings and in said buildings before the order takes effect.
Section 6 requires the Secretary of the Interior to adopt other means of publicity he deems expedient to spread and maintain knowledge of the order among affected people.

Permit for scientific specimens

Section 7 authorizes the granting of a permit (by the Secretary of the Interior) to any person of good repute fifteen years upward for scientific purposes only.
Section 7 limits permit privileges to permitting the holder to take specimens of protected animal life, or the nests or eggs of protected birds.
Section 7 provides that the permit remains in force for only one year from the date of issue and is not transferable.
Section 7 makes the permit holder subject to the same penalty as if no permit existed if the holder takes or kills any protected creature, or takes the nest or eggs of any protected bird, for other than a scientific purpose.

Hunting firearms and license fees

Section 8 makes it unlawful to hunt with a firearm or use a firearm as a weapon against game without first obtaining an appropriate hunting license.
Section 8 sets the hunting license fee for a resident of the Philippine Islands at two pesos.
Section 8 sets the hunting license fee for officer or enlisted man of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, Philippine Scouts and Philippine Constabulary at two pesos.
Section 8 sets the hunting license fee for a nonresident at twenty pesos.

Who issues licenses and who enforces

Section 9 provides that hunting licenses are issued by the Chief of Constabulary.
Section 9 requires hunting licenses to be issued subject to regulations and restrictions established by the Chief of Constabulary with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Police.
Section 10 appoints members of the Philippine Constabulary and members of municipal and township police as deputy game wardens with full authority to enforce the Act and arrest offenders.

False statements in license applications

Section 11 makes it unlawful to make any false statement on the application blank for any hunting license.
Section 11 provides that the offender is subject to forfeiture of both the offender’s license and weapons, in addition to other penalties provided.

Ban on lending licenses/firearms for hunting

Section 12 prohibits lending a hunting license or firearm to another for the purpose of hunting.
Section 12 prohibits procuring or having in possession for hunting any hunting license or firearm belonging to another.
Section 12 mandates forfeiture of any hunting license or firearm found in unlawful possession by any person other than its proper owner.
Section 12 preserves an exception allowing Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, Philippine Scouts, or Philippine Constabulary officers or enlisted men serving in the Philippine Islands to use for hunting purposes rifles or shotguns belonging to the Governments of the United States or of the Philippine Islands.

Prohibited hunting methods; lantern presumption

Section 13 makes it unlawful, except as provided in the Act, to hunt, kill, or capture any “protected” bird or mammal by artificial light, swivel gun, or nets for birds and small games.
Section 13 establishes that possession of a lantern for hunting at night is prima facie evidence of intent to use it at night to catch, kill, or hunt birds, mammals, or protected game animals.

Species and activities allowed year-round

Section 14 allows the taking or killing in any season of wild pig and birds commonly known as eagles, hawks, garzas pardas (brown herons), candangaho, owls, crows, English sparrows, galancian, and mayas.
Section 14 provides that nothing in the Act prohibits keeping a bird as a domestic pet.
Section 14 provides that nothing in the Act prevents taking edible bird nests under a license duly issued.

Environmental pollution ban affecting fish and plant life

Section 15 makes it unlawful to place, cause to be placed, discharge, or deposit, or to pass or place where it can pass into waters of the Philippine Islands, listed pollutants.
Section 15 covers petroleum, acid, coal, or oil-tar, lamp-black, aniline, asphalt, bitumen, residuary product of petroleum, or carbonaceous material or substance.
Section 15 covers refuse and liquid or solid wastes from oil refineries, gas houses, tanneries, distilleries, chemical works, mills or factories of any kind, including sawdust, slabs, factory refuse, and any material deleterious to fish or plant life.
Section 15 allows the retting of maguey, sisal, sansevieria, and similar plants in rivers and on the seashore.

Special privilege for residents: food for families

Section 16 permits actual residents of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu and the Mountain Province to hunt and take game birds and mammals and to take bird eggs at all times to secure food for themselves and their families.
Section 16 prohibits these residents from using artificial lights for hunting game or birds.
Section 16 prohibits the sale during the close seasons of the whole or any portion of the game taken or killed under this food-for-families privilege.
Section 16 allows, with the approval of the Governor-General, the Secretary of the Interior to confer the privilege on residents of any township or territorial subdivision in any province.

Penalties for violations

Section 17 requires punishment for each offense for any person violating the Act or any order or regulation deriving force from its provisions.
Section 17 sets the penalty as a fine of not more than one hundred pesos per offense.

Repeal and transitory effect of prior orders

Section 18 repeals Act Numbered Seventeen hundred and ninety-eight and its amendments.
Section 18 preserves the prosecution of any criminal offense previously committed under the repealed Act.
Section 18 provides that orders previously promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior under the repealed Act continue to operate with the same effect as if issued under the present Act.

Effectivity

Section 19 provides that the Act takes effect upon its passage.
The Act was enacted February 4, 1916.