Article 23p. 23

NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS STATUTES and IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONS

forestry policy formulation and implementation. To help

defray the cost of operating said Center, it is authorized

to receive assistance from the wood industry and other

sources. ( Amending P.D. No. 705 (Revised Forestry Code

of the Philippines), Presidential Decree No. 1559, [June 11,

1978])

Section 12. Performance Evaluation. The Bureau shall

devise a system, to be approved by the Department

Head, to evaluate the performance of its employees. The

system shall measure accomplishment in quantity and

quality of performance as related to the funded program

of work assigned to each organizational unit. There shall

be included a system of periodic inspection of district

offices by the regional offices and the regional and

district offices by the Central Office in both functional

fields

and

in

the

overall

assessment of how each

administrative

unit

has

implemented

the

laws,

regulations, policies, programs, and practices relevant to

such

unit.

The evaluation system shall provide the

information necessary for annual progress reports and

determination of employee training civil service awards

and transfer or disciplinary action.

CHAPTER II Classification and Survey

Section

13.

System

of

Land

Classification.

The

Department Head shall study, devise, determine and

prescribe the criteria, guidelines and methods for the

proper and accurate classification and survey of all lands

of the public domain into agricultural, industrial or

commercial, residential, resettlement, mineral, timber or

forest, and grazing lands, and into such other classes as

now or may hereafter be provided by law, rules and

regulations.

In the meantime, the Department Head shall simplify

through

inter-bureau

action

the

present

system of

determining which of the unclassified lands of the

public domain are needed for forest purposes and

declare them as permanent forest to form part of the

forest reserves. He shall decree those classified and

determined not to be needed for forest purposes as

alienable

and

disposable

lands,

the

administrative

jurisdiction

and

management

of

which

shall

be

transferred

to

the Bureau of Lands: Provided, That

mangrove and other swamps not needed for shore

protection and suitable for fishpond purposes shall be

released to, and be placed under the administrative

jurisdiction and management of, the Bureau of Fisheries

and Aquatic Resources. Those still to be classified under

the Present system shall continue to remain as part of

the public forest.

Section 14. Existing pasture leases in forest lands. —

Forest lands which are not reservations and which are

the subject of pasture leases shall be classified as

grazing lands and areas covered by pasture permits shall

remain forest lands until otherwise classified under the

criteria, guidelines and methods of classification to be

prescribed by the Department Head: Provided, That the

administration, management and disposition of grazing

lands shall remain under the Bureau. (Amending P.D. No.

705

(Revised

Forestry

Code

of

the

Philippines),

Presidential Decree No. 1559, [June 11, 1978])

Section 15. Topography. No land of the public domain

eighteen per cent (18%) in slope or over shall be classified

as alienable and disposable, nor any forest land fifty per

cent (50%) in slope or over, as grazing land.

Lands eighteen per cent (18%) in slope or over which

have already been declared as alienable and disposable

shall be reverted to the classification of forest lands by

the Department Head, to form part of the forest reserves,

unless they are already covered by existing titles or

approved public land application, or actually occupied

openly, continuously, adversely and publicly for a period

of not less than thirty (30) years as of the effectivity of

this Code, where the occupant is qualified for a free

patent under the Public Land Act: Provided, That said

lands, which are not yet part of a well-established

communities, shall be kept in a vegetative condition

sufficient to prevent erosion and adverse effects on the

lowlands and streams: Provided, further, That when

public interest so requires, steps shall be taken to

expropriate, cancel defective titles, reject public land

application, or eject occupants thereof.

Section

16.

Areas

needed

for

forest

purposes.

The

following lands, even if they are below eighteen per cent

(18%) in slope, are needed for forest purposes, and may

not, therefore, be classified as alienable and disposable

land, to wit:

1. Areas less than 250 hectares which are far from, or are

not

contiguous

with,

any

certified

alienable

and

disposable land;

2. Isolated patches of forest of at least five (5) hectares

with

rocky

terrain,

or

which

protect

a

spring

for

communal use;

3. Areas which have already been reforested;

4. Areas within forest concessions which are timbered or

have good residual stocking to support an existing, or

approved to be established, wood processing plant;

5. Ridge tops and plateaus regardless of size found

within, or surrounded wholly or partly by, forest lands

where headwaters emanate;

6. Appropriately located road-rights-or-way;

7. Twenty-meter strips of land along the edge of the

normal

high

waterline

of

rivers

and

streams

with

channels of at least five (5) meters wide;

8. Strips of mangrove or swamplands at least twenty (20)

meters wide, along shorelines facing oceans, lakes, and

other bodies of water, and strips of land at least twenty

(20) meters wide facing lakes;

9. Areas needed for other purposes, such as national

parks, national historical sites, game refuges and wildlife

sanctuaries, forest station sites, and others of public

interest; and

10. Areas previously proclaimed by the President as

forest

reserves,

national

parks,

game

refuge,

bird

sanctuaries, national shrines, national historic sites:

Provided, That in case an area falling under any of the

foregoing categories shall have been titled in favor of any

person, steps shall be taken, if public interest so requires,

to have said title cancelled or amended, or the titled area

expropriated.

Section 17. Establishment of boundaries of forest lands.

—

All

boundaries

between

permanent

forests

and

alienable or disposable lands shall be clearly marked and

maintained on the ground, with infrastructure or roads,

or concrete monuments at intervals of not more than

five

hundred

(500)

meters

in

accordance

with

established procedures and standards, or any other

visible and practicable signs to insure protection of the

forest.

In all cases of boundary conflicts, reference shall be

made to the Philippine Coast and Geodetic Survey Topo

map. (Amending P.D. No. 705 (Revised Forestry Code of

the Philippines), Presidential Decree No. 1559, [June 11,

1978])

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