Republic of the Philippines  
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 
Third Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ______ 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by Representative FRANZ E. ALVAREZ 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
This Bill specifies the boundary limits of agricultural lands with respect to present or 
future forest or timber lands, mineral lands, and national parks in Barangay Port Barton, 
Municipality of San Vicente, in the Province of Palawan thereby effectively enabling the 
Constitutional mandate enshrined in Section 4 of Article XII of the 1987 Constitution which 
states: 
“Section 4. The Congress shall, as soon as possible, determine, by law, the 
specific limits of forest lands and national parks, marking clearly their 
boundaries on the ground. Thereafter, such forest lands and national parks 
shall be conserved and may not be increased nor diminished, except by law. 
The Congress shall provide for such period as it may determine, measures to 
prohibit logging in endangered forests and watershed areas.” 
The principal objective of once and for all limiting the expanse of agricultural land areas 
in Port Barton is to arrest the unabated trading and exploitation of unclassified lands that is 
reducing forest cover and compromising the rich biodiversity of Palawan while endeavoring to 
maximize the potential gains that will be derived from the tourism industry. Port Barton, a highly-
popular attraction, placed Palawan in the world map in the 1970s as a must-see and must-
experience sun and sea destination. 
When Port Barton was surveyed for land classification, a large tract of land in the town 
proper that has been occupied by early settlers since time immemorial and even documented 
and parcelled in the DENR-sponsored cadastral survey conducted during the mid to late 1980s 
was inadvertently excluded. This is quite ironic and somehow unnatural considering that the 
other half of the tract that also forms part of the town proper was classified as agricultural land 
(alienable and disposable).  
The paradox is that the northern half of the Port Barton downtown is governed by rules 
on unclassified/classified public forest and under the jurisdiction of the DENR while the southern 
half is made up of subdivided alienable and disposable lands where the Barangay and 
Municipal LGUs derive real property tax revenues from. 
The beach easement of the forest land half is at 40 meters while that of the other half is 
the Municipality-zoned 25 meters. None of the northern half has land title and the building of 
government facilities is prohibited despite the fact that the high school and barangay 
infrastructure were previously built therein.  
Though the entire downtown is already a bustling tourism destination, development 
opportunities in the northern half that is treated as public forest is undeniably, very limited. 
Residents and tourism firms on that part can neither capitalize nor securitize their landholding. 
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9:49 am
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They cannot freely invest and introduce improvements without securing forestland lease 
agreements from the DENR. 
 
It is our shared dream to see our people realize their full potential as human beings while 
ensuring the continued existence of the very environment that will make such possible for us 
and the future generation. 
 
 
As early as 1990, Palawan has been recognized by the United Nations Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a Biosphere Reserve. According to the 
Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, a policy-making institution that balances 
development and preservation, Palawan’s potential to showcase the co-existence of sustainable 
development and protection of the environment even led to its inclusion in UNESCO’s Man and 
Biosphere Reserve Program.  
 
 
Our gains highlighted by these two UNESCO recognition are threatened by the lack of 
clear classification of lands as Palawan largely remains “unclassified” within Philippine statutory 
context. Without legal classification, what should be protected forests cannot but succumb to 
exploitation carried out in the guise of habitation and agriculture. 
 
 
Select Palawan areas were, in several instances, subjected to various kinds of 
classification by the National Government. These decrees, however, are ineffective instruments 
to carry out our aspirations for failing to adapt to the present situation and provide for the 
necessary guarantee to survive in the future. These decrees are even contradictory as will be 
discussed following the enumeration: 
 
1. Proclamation No. 219 (1967) DECLARING THE ENTIRE PROVINCE OF PALAWAN AS 
GAME REFUGE AND BIRD SANCTUARY, AND THE SMALL ISLANDS OF PALAWAN 
AS NATIONAL RESERVES 
 
2. Proclamation No. 530-B (1969) AMENDING PROCLAMATION NO. 219 DATED JULY 2, 
1967 WHICH DECLARES THE ENTIRE PROVINCE OF PALAWAN AS GAME 
REFUGE AND BIRD SANCTUARY, AND THE SMALL ISLANDS OF PALAWAN AS 
NATIONAL RESERVES  
 
3. Proclamation No. 1232 (1974) AMENDING FURTHER PROCLAMATION NO. 219 
DATED JULY 2, 1967, AS AMENDED BY PROCLAMATION NO. 530-B DATED 
MARCH 8, 1968, DECLARING THE ENTIRE PROVINCE OF PALAWAN AS GAME 
REFUGE AND BIRD SANCTUARY, AND THE SMALL ISLANDS OFF PALAWAN AS 
NATIONAL RESERVES, BY EXCLUDING THEREFROM THE ISLANDS OF BUGSUK, 
PANDANAN, MANTANGULE AND GABUNG, ALL IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF 
BALABAC, PROVINCE OF PALAWAN, AND OPENING THE SAME TO DISPOSITION 
AND ALIENATION UNDER THE PUBLIC LAND ACT  
 
4. Proclamation No. 1440 (1975) AMENDING FURTHER PROCLAMATION NO. 219 
DATED JULY 2, 1967, AS AMENDED BY PROCLAMATION NO. 530-B DATED 
MARCH 8, 1968, AND AMENDED FURTHER BY PROCLAMATION NO. 1232 DATED 
FEBRUARY 6, 1974, DECLARING THE ENTIRE PROVINCE OF PALAWAN AS GAME 
REFUGE AND BIRD SANCTUARY, AND THE SMALL ISLANDS OF PALAWAN AS 
NATIONAL RESERVES, BY EXCLUDING THEREFROM THE ISLAND OF BANCALAN, 
IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF BALABAC, PROVINCE OF PALAWAN, AND OPENING 
THE SAME TO DISPOSITION AND ALIENATION UNDER THE PUBLIC LAND ACT  
 
5. Proclamation No. 2152 (1981) WITHDRAWING FROM ENTRY, SALE, SETTLEMENT 
OR OTHER FORMS OF DISPOSITION, AND ESTABLISHMENT AS MANGROVE 
SWAMP FOREST RESERVES CERTAIN PARCELS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN 
AND/OR PARTS OF THE COUNTRY INCLUDING THE ENTIRE PROVINCE OF 
PALAWAN 
 


 
 
6. Department Administrative Order No. 87-08 (1987) IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 
PROVISIONS OF PROCLAMATION NO. 2152 DECLARING THE ENTIRE PROVINCE 
OF PALAWAN AND CERTAIN PARCELS OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND/OR PARTS 
OF THE COUNTRY AS MANGROVE SWAMP FOREST RESERVES 
 
7. Department Administrative Order No. 91-61 (1991) RULES ON THE ACCEPTANCE, 
IDENTIFICATION, EVALUATION AND DELINEATION OF ANCESTRAL LAND CLAIMS 
IN THE PROVINCE OF PALAWAN 
 
8. Department Administrative Order No. 98-40 (1998) DECLARING PORTIONS OF THE 
PUBLIC FOREST AS ALIENABLE OR DISPOSABLE FOR CROPLAND AND OTHER 
PURPOSES AND SETTING ASIDE CERTAIN PARCELS THEREOF FOR 
PERMANENT FOREST PURPOSES UNDER LC PROJECT NO. 5-G OF EL NIDO, 
PALAWAN 
 
9. Department Administrative Order No. 04-44 (2004) DECLARING PORTIONS OF THE 
PUBLIC FOREST AS AGRICULTURAL LAND (ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE) FOR 
CROPLAND AND OTHER PURPOSES AND SETTING ASIDE CERTAIN PARCELS 
THEREOF FOR PERMANENT FOREST PURPOSES UNDER LC PROJECT NO. 1-Z-A 
OF PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, PALAWAN 
 
10. Department Administrative Order No. 04-45 (2004) DECLARING PORTIONS OF THE 
PUBLIC FOREST AS AGRICULTURAL LAND (ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE) FOR 
CROPLAND AND OTHER PURPOSES AND SETTING ASIDE CERTAIN PARCELS 
THEREOF FOR PERMANENT FOREST PURPOSES UNDER LC PROJECT NO. 1-Z 
OF PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, PALAWAN 
 
11. Department Administrative Order No. 2007-21 (2007) DECLARING PORTIONS OF THE 
PUBLIC FOREST AS AGRICULTURAL LAND (ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE) FOR 
CROPLAND AND OTHER PURPOSES AND SETTING ASIDE CERTAIN PARCELS 
THEREOF FOR PERMANENT FOREST PURPOSES UNDER LC PROJECT NO. 16-A 
OF MUNICIPALITY OF CULION, PALAWAN 
 
12. Department Administrative Order No. 2008-05 (2008) DECLARING PORTIONS OF THE 
PUBLIC FOREST AS AGRICULTURAL LAND (ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE) FOR 
CROPLAND AND OTHER PURPOSES AND SETTING ASIDE CERTAIN PARCELS 
THEREOF FOR PERMANENT FOREST PURPOSES UNDER LC PROJECT NO. 1-Z-B 
OF PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, PALAWAN 
 
 
A Proclamation declared the entire Province of Palawan as Game Refuge and Bird 
Sanctuary with small islands as national reserves, while another, declared it as Mangrove 
Swamp Forest Reserve. Following those Proclamations came Department Administrative 
Orders that excluded certain portions and classified the areas as alienable and disposable 
agricultural lands. These administrative classifications, if only periodically and consistently 
decreed, could have answered the need for the use of both the government and the people 
lasted only until 2008. 
 
 
In effect, we see huge tracts of populated and developed areas in unclassified public 
forests. The worst part is when due to the uncertainty in the classification of what is presently 
occupied by residents, people venture into what should genuinely be treated as preservation 
forests, mangrove swamps and foreshores, and small islands. Living in said areas may be 
tolerated int the meantime for lack of a clear national land use policy and the more important 
human need to survive. What is deplorable though, is the exploitation of the resources and the 
inordinate occupation of land fueled by speculation that the land will increase in value. 
 
 
This Bill moves ahead of the proposed National Land Use and Management Act as it 
builds upon the technical description generated by the assessment and ground survey of 
Department Administrative Order No. 2008-24 (2008) or the GUIDELINES FOR THE 


ASSESSMENT AND DELINEATION OF BOUNDARIES BETWEEN FORESTLANDS, 
NATIONAL PARKS AND AGRICULTURAL LANDS previously conducted in Palawan. 
The perspective, this Bill emphasizes, is to identify the areas for habitation, utilization, 
and development leaving what is outside the zone in the status quo and within the ambit of 
existing laws. The limitation, coupled with stricter enforcement of environment laws, hopes to 
pull or herd to these areas those presently occupying and speculating on unclassified lands, or 
areas that are better off reserved as forest lands or national parks. This approach reverses what 
has been traditionally done with respect to national parks delineation in Palawan that both 
restricted the expanse of what should ideally be protected as national parks while 
encompassing highly developed, populated and urban settlements. 
In view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this Bill is earnestly sought. 
FRANZ E. ALVAREZ
!
FRANZ E. ALVAREZ
DATE 27.07.2021
08:30:00 +08’00”


Republic of the Philippines  
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS 
Third Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ______ 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
Introduced by Representative FRANZ E. ALVAREZ 
_________________________________________________________________________________ 
AN ACT DELIMITING THE EXTENT OF ALIENABLE AND DISPOSABLE LANDS  
VIS-A-VIS FOREST LANDS AND NATIONAL PARKS IN BARANGAY PORT BARTON, 
MUNICIPALITY OF SAN VICENTE IN THE PROVINCE OF PALAWAN BY CLASSIFYING 
PARCELS OF PUBLIC FORESTS AS AGRICULTURAL LANDS UNDER THE 1987 
CONSTITUTION 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assembled. 
SECTION 1. The parcels of public forest in Barangay Port Barton, Municipality of San 
Vicente in the Province of Palawan is hereby classified as agricultural lands that are alienable 
and disposable under the purview of Commonwealth Act No. 141, otherwise known as the Public 
Land Act, as amended. 
Said parcels of land are more particularly described in the technical description appended 
to this Bill generated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources pursuant to the 
provisions of Department Administrative Order No. 2008-24 (2008) or the GUIDELINES FOR THE 
ASSESSMENT AND DELINEATION OF BOUNDARIES BETWEEN FORESTLANDS, 
NATIONAL PARKS AND AGRICULTURAL LANDS. 
SEC. 2. Within six (6) months following the effectivity of this Act, the Secretary of the 
Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall promulgate the rules and regulations for 
the effective implementation of this Act. 
SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication in the Official Gazette 
or two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved,
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