HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

RECEIVED
pate, ‘2 JUL 2018
TIME:

BY:

Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI
Quezon City

ES

RECISTRATION UNIT

BILLS AND INDEX sp es
SEVENTEENTH CONGRES' BERNICE

First Regular Session

5
HOUSE BILL NO. 1423

Introduced by HON. RONALD M. COSALAN

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The government spends billions of pesos for reforestation. ‘The latest estimate
places the next expected expenditure for this purpose at P15B, In the past Congresses,
former Speaker Jose De Venecia has proposed an additional Countrywide Development
Bund of P2.5 M for each congressional district for reforestation. All these are indicative
of national and worldwide concern for and recognition of the urgency of maintaining
the ecological balance and environmental protection of this planet.

Up to the present time, the main thrust of government's forest conservation and
reforestation efforts is directed to the public domain. Yet considerable portions of
forest-covered lands are ancestral lands of the indigenous cultural communities mostly
located in mountainous terrain. Likewise, large areas of privately owned lands will
continue to expand and increase in area as more and more portions of the public
domain are brought under private ownership. It is time that the government's efforts at
forest conservation and reforestation be likewise focused and directed to these ancestral
lands and other privately-owned lands but in an effective and practical manner,

Forest denudation in the public domain as well as in ancestral and other
privately-owned lands is a continuously ongoing activity for reasons already known to
the public, most pernicious of which is logging and slash-and-burn system of
agriculture. But for ancestral lands of indigenous cultural communities, forest
denudation attributable to the members of the community themselves is being done for
two main reasons:

(a) As a matter of economic necessity and survival- With population ever on the
rise and more mouths to feed, these people's only recourse is to clear more
and more of the forested areas of their landholdings for agricultural

Purposes, however meager the produce, especially those located in
mountainous terrain; and


(b) Existing laws and government policies that do not recognize forest cover
protected, maintained and preserved by the cultural community as
“improvements” to evidence possession and occupation of the land.
Consequently, forest covers are deliberately cut and cleared to introduce
“improvements” consisting of clearings, kaingins, temporary terraces and
plantings in order to have evidence of the land claimant's possession and
occupation of the land.

‘To reverse this trend of forest denudation due to the above-mentioned two main
reasons, forest conservation and maintenance of the forest cover in ancestral lands and
reforestation of already denuded areas must be made economically beneficial to the
land claimants or owners. In addition, maintained forest cover and reforestation must
be legally recognized and considered as “improvements” to evidence possession and
occupation of the land. This economic benefit must be realizable in the short term
because their need for economic sustenance is immediate, many of them living on a
hand-to-mouth basis. Tree farming as presently packaged, while economically viable, is
impracticable as far as many ancestral landowners are concerned since they have to
wait for many years for the trees to mature to be of any economic help to them.

This bill seeks to provide immediate economic benefits to ancestral land
claimants or owners by requiring the government to pay rentals for the use of these
lands as forest cover and tree planting, The rental cost is pegged to what the
government would spend if it were to reforest these lands and maintain its forest cover.
As further incentive for the conservation of forest cover or reforestation of ancestral
lands, this bill recognizes and considers them as evidence and proof of possession and
occupation of the land. Another incentive provided for in this bill is exemption of
forested portions of ancestral lands from payment of real estate taxes. All these provide
not only incentives to help the government protect and maintain forest cover in the
country but constitute government assistance to the underprivileged sector of our
society to ensure their economic, social and cultural well-being as mandated by the
Constitution.

Approval of this measure is earnestly requested.

ONALD M. COSALAN
istrict, Benguet


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

1423

HOUSE BILL NO

Introduced by HON. RONALD M. COSALAN,

AN ACT
PROVIDING INCENTIVES FOR AND ENCOURAGE CONSERVATION
AND MAINTENANCE OF FOREST COVER AND TREE PLANTING
IN ANCESTRAL LANDS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES:

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

SECTION 1. State Policy and Coverage of this Act - It is the enduring policy of
the state to enhance ecological balance and protection of the environment and towards
this end, the government shall provide incentives for and encourage tree planting and
the conservation and maintenance of existing forest cover not only in lands of the public
domain but also on ancestral lands of members of indigenous cultural communities and
other privately-owned lands. Ancestral lands of indigenous cultural communities
under Constitutional mandate to be protected to ensure their economic, social and
cultural well-being, are covered by this Act. Other lands claimed or owned as private
property shall be governed by existing forestry and other applicable general laws and
covered by ongoing government programs on forest conservation and environmental
protection.

SECTION 2. Lease of Natural Forest-Covered Ancestral Lands Individually or
commonly owned ancestral lands of indigenous cultural communities with natural
forest cover primarily used for and devoted to the preservation and maintenance of said
existing forest cover and for such other purposes not inconsistent therewith, such as
watershed, hunting and fishing grounds, communal forest and similar purposes, shall,
with the consent of the claimants or owners, be leased by the government under the
following terms and conditions:

(a) That the land is ancestral land claimed or owned by members of an

indigenous cultural community;

(b) That there is an existing natural forest cover on the land consisting of thick

original or secondary forest growth of trees, shrubs and undergrowth of


whatever variety or species and sufficient to protect the soil from erosion and
conserve rain water;

(©) That the natural forest cover has been maintained, protected and preserved
by the ancestral land claimants or owners;

(d) That the government shall pay lease rentals for the first year in an amount
equivalent to the current cost to the government of reforesting an area of the
same size as that leased, plus the equivalent current costs of maintaining and
protecting reforested lands of the same size. On the second year and
thereafter, the lease rentals shall be pegged to the current costs of
maintaining, preserving and protecting an equivalent area of reforested land.
An amount equivalent to twenty-five percent (25%) of the rental as above
determined and computed shall further be charged to the government as
additional rental and paid directly to the Community to form part of its
barangay funds. Ancestral lands under lease as forest cover shall be
exempted from the payment of real estate taxes for as long as the lease
subsists.

SECTION 3. Lease of Reforested Ancestral Lands ~ Ancestral lands reforested
by the claimants or owners shalll be categorized as forest-covered lands and upon lease,
be paid rentals by the government in an amount determined and computed in
accordance with Section 2 hereof and be entitled to all the other benefits provided for in
said Section. To qualify for lease, the reforested area must consist of not less than one-
year old planted trees of the same or different varieties or species indigenous to the
place and planted in the manner and at distances or intervals as prescribed by
standards set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The planted
trees and reforested area shall be properly cared for, protected and maintained by the
ancestral land claimants or owners.

SECTION 4. Minimum Area for Lease and Ground for Termination of Lease ~
Only lands of not less than two thousand (2,000) square meters shall qualify for lease.
Failure on the part of the land claimants or owners to protect, maintain and preserve the
natural forest cover of leased ancestral lands or properly care for, protect and maintain
the trees in a reforested area under lease shall constitute a ground for the termination of
the lease.

SECTION 5. Forest Cover to Constitute Evidence of Possession and Occupation
of Ancestral Land ~ Forest cover, natural or reforested, protected, preserved and
maintained by the ancestral land claimants or owners, shall, for all legal purposes, be
considered as improvements on the land and shall constitute positive evidence of
possession and occupation of the ancestral land.

SECTION 6. Lease of Communal Ancestral Lands - Ancestral lands owned and
used in common by the community such as watersheds, communal forests, hunting and


fishing grounds, pasture lands and established buffer zones shall be covered by the
provisions of this Act and in such case, the lease agreement for such lands shall be
entered into by the government with the Community and the rental thereon shall
accrue to and form part of the barangay funds of the Community.

SECTION 7. Technical Advice, Rules and Regulations - The Department of
Environment and Natural Resources shall provide free tecadvice on reforestation,
conservation and maintenance of forest cover, provide free tree seedlings for
reforestation, and promulgate the rules and regulations for the full implementation of
this Act.

SECTION 8. Repeating Clause - All acts, decrees, proclamations, rules,
regulations and other issuances, or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the

provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SECTION 9. Effectivity Clause - This Act shall take effect upon approval.

Approved,