REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Third Regular Session

House Bill No. 8485

Introduced by MAGDALO Party-List Representative
HON. GARY C. ALEJANO

EXPLANATORY NOTE

‘A watershed is an area of land that drains rain water into one location such as a stream, lake
or wetland. These water bodies supply our drinking water, water for agriculture and manufacturing,
offer opportunities for recreation and provide habitat to numerous plants and animals. Much of the
water comes from rainfall and stormwater runoff. The quality and quantity of stormwater is affected
by all the alterations to the land—mining, agriculture, roadways, urban development, and the
activities of people within a watershed.

Watersheds are important because the surface water features and stormwater runoff within a
watershed ultimately drain to other bodies of water. It is essential to consider these downstream
impacts when developing and implementing water quality protection and restoration actions.
Everything upstream ends up downstream. We need to remember that we all live downstream and
that our everyday activities can affect downstream waters.

However, despite the vital role of watersheds in maintaining a balanced and healthful
ecology for the whole country, it is nonetheless threatened by people who fail to appreciate its
importance, IMegal logging in watersheds and other protected areas remain rampant and it has had
adverse effects to the overall environmental crisis of the country.

On 13 February 2018, the Office of the President has received a complaint from concerned
environmentalists and mountaineers about the massive deforestation of the Ipo Watershed in
Norzagaray, Bulacan. The Ipo Watershed’s 6,600 hectares of forest provides fresh water to more
than 11 million people in Metro Manila by generating water that flows to the Ipo Dam and the La
Mesa Dam and yet, as early as 2004, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
identified illegal logging, kaingin, and charcoal-making as primary reasons for the destruction of
about 70% of the watershed’ forest cover.


This dilemma requires that authorities step in and execute the full force of the law to deter
erring citizens, however R.A. 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act
of 1992 fails to provide for the definition and provision of penalties for specific destructive

activities within these areas.

In response to the abovementioned problems, this bill shall seek to define the offense of
illegal logging within protected areas and provide penalties for its violations. Government must
ensure the protection, conservation, and development of our valuable water resources for the benefit
of our people and of future generations.

In view of the foregoing, approval of this bill is earnestly sought.



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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Third Regular Session

House Bill No. 8485

Introduced by MAGDALO Party-List Representative
HON. GARY C, ALEJANO

AN ACT
DEFINING THE OFFENSE OF ILLEGAL LOGGING IN WATERSHEDS AND OTHER
PROTECTED AREAS AND PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled,

SECTION 1. Short Title —This Act shall be known as the “Watersheds Protection Act.”

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy.—It is hereby declared the policy of the State to protect,
conserve, and develop water resources for human consumption, irrigation, hydro-electric power
generation, inland fisheries, biodiversity, and for other beneficial purposes, and to these ends, the
cutting and felling of trees within watershed and other protected areas as prohibited.

SEC. 3. Penalties. —Violation of Section 2 hereof shall be punished with reclusion perpetua.
No mitigating circumstances whatsoever shall be appreciated in favor of the offender.

In addition to the prison term, the offender shall indemnify the Republic of the Philippines
in an amount ten (10) times the value of the illegally cut trees.

If the offender is a corporation, partnership, or other juridical person, the Chief Executive
Officer thereof, whether the Chairman, President or General Manager, shall be criminally liable in
the commission of the offense penalized under this Act.

If the crime herein-mentioned is committed by a public officer, he shall, in addition to the
foregoing penalties, be perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

SEC. 4. Suspension of Licenses.—Upon the filing of the necessary information in court, the
government prosecutor shall, if the offender is a corporation, partnership or other juridical person to
whom a license agreement, lease permit to utilize forest resources within any forest land has been


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granted, forward a copy of the information to the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR). Upon receipt thereof, the DENR shall immediately cause the suspension of the
license agreement, lease or permit, as the case may be, of the offender until termination of the
criminal case.

In case the offender is acquitted, the suspension shall be ordered lifted. Otherwise, the
license, lease, or permit shall be ordered cancelled.

SEC. 5. Exemptions.—The Indeterminate Sentence Law shall not be applicable to the
offense punished in this Act.

SEC. 6. Forfeiture of the Instrument of the Crime..—Any tool, equipment, or vehicle used in
the cutting and transport of the illegally cut trees shall be automatically forfeited in favor of the
government.

SEC. 7. Repealing Clause.—All laws, decrees, executive orders or parts thereof inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 8. Separability Clause.—If any part or provision of this Act is declared invalid or
unconstitutional, the other parts not otherwise affected shall remain in full effect and force.

SEC. 9. Effectivity.—This Act shall take effect fifteen days after its complete publication in
at least two newspapers of general publication.

Approved,