Section 9Sec./Art. 9

Prohibited Acts and Penalties. -

(a)The penalties in Articles 309 and 310 of the Revised Penal Code depending on the value of the resources taken, damaged or destroyed shall be imposed upon any person who:

(1)Hunts, destroys, disturbs or removes from the Batanes Protected Area any wild plants or animal products derived therefrom without a permit from the PAMB;

(2)Conducts mineral exploration or extraction within the forest lands as defined herein;

(3)Conducts quarry operations for aggregates, limestones, coral, sand or other quarry material without a permit from the PAMB or without other permits required under existing laws;

(4)Engages in commercial fishing within municipal waters;

(5)Engages in fishing with the use of explosives, noxious substances, electricity or drift nets with mesh below three (3) centimeters between the knots when stretched; and

(6)Cuts, removes, gathers, takes timber or forest products from the forest lands without authorization.

Valuation of the damage shall take into account biodiversity and conservation considerations as well as aesthetic and scenic value.

(b)A fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) but not more than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000) and/or imprisonment of not less than one (1) year nor more than five (5) years and the restoration and rehabilitation of the damage shall be imposed upon any person who:

(1)Alters topography through digging, blasting, earth-filling activities or stonewalling without a permit from all proper authorities as required under existing laws, rules and regulations and from the PAMB;

(2)Damages roads, trails or leaves them in a damaged condition or mutilates, defaces, destroys or vandalizes any object of natural beauty or scenic value within the protected area;

(3)Constructs or maintains any kind of structure without a permit from the PAMB or without other requisite permits under existing laws such as but not limited to municipal permits, public works requirements and Environmental Compliance Certificates; and

(4)Alters, removes, destroys or defaces boundary marks, buoys or signs in the protected area.

(c)A fine of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000) nor more than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000) and/or imprisonment from one (1) year to three (3) years shall be imposed upon any person who:

(1)Occupies lands classified as forest lands as herein defined without a legal instrument for such occupation;

(2)Violates any rules and regulations in the management plan of the PAMB or agreements reached before the PAMB in its exercise of adjudicative functions;

(3)Dumps any waste materials on land or sea other than in areas identified as dumping sites by the concerned local governments, or leaves human wastes or refuse on land or sea in exposed or in unsanitary condition;

(4)Kills or injures any protected species or fails to release it when accidentally caught or found beached;

(5)Possesses a chainsaw without clearance from the PAMB which shall specify the legal uses for which it can be applied;

(6)Knowingly brings into the Batanes Protected Area any exotic species or substances which may pose a hazard to public health, protected species habitat or populations or scenery; and

(7)Brings out of the Batanes Protected Area live fish without a negative certification from cyanide testing.

(d)Imprisonment of six (6) years and one day to ten (10) years and/or a fine of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000) nor more than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000) shall be imposed upon any alien engaging in any fishing activity within the municipal waters of Batanes. The offender shall further be deported after service of sentence. If such activity is carried on using a vessel of foreign registry, the penalty shall include the confiscation of the vessel in favor of the government. The same penalty and perpetual disqualification from public office shall be imposed upon any Filipino citizen knowingly aiding and abetting the commission of this offense.

(e)A fine of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000) nor more than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000) and/or imprisonment of not less than one (1) year and not more than five (5) years shall be imposed upon:

(1)Any person who shall induce another or conspire to commit any of the above acts or suffer their workers to commit any of the above acts shall be liable in the same manner as the one actually performing the act; and

(2)Any public officer, or officer of the law, who, in dereliction of the duties of his/her office, shall maliciously refrain from instituting prosecution for the punishment of the violators of the law, or shall tolerate the commission of the offenses. Conviction for this offense shall also carry the penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office.