Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House BrLi no, 336

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill reenacts House Bill No. 235 which was approved by the 14"
Congress of the House of Representatives on 29 April 2008 and was
transmitted to and received by the Senate on 05 May 2008.

Botanical gardens as mechanisms for botanical research,
preservation of plant species, and experimentation in the propagation of
new or rare tropical flora and as educational facility for the study of
botanical science are well recognized purposes which governments in
many countries have supported.

In Southeast Asia, botanical gardens were established since the last
century by European governments in their colonial possessions, and such
botanical gardens have since been continued and maintained even when
the colonial countries gained their independence. For instance, the
Botanical Garden of Indonesia in Bogor, West Java was started in 1817 in
an area covering 88 hectares and is now considered one of the world’s
most beautiful gardens with its vast collection of spectacular tropical
plants. Singapore’s Botanical Garden, established in 1859 is now
considered one of the historically important areas for basic botanical
research. As of the present time, the United States contains the most
numerous and most influential scientifically-oriented botanical gardens.
The concept has since spread in Latin America and even in Africa. In
modern practice, a botanical garden of less than 15 hectares is considered
small.

What this bill seeks to establish in the Bicol Region is a very modest
botanical garden conceived as a starting point for achieving experience in
the mechanisms, methodology and systems for operating and maintaining
a botanical garden, with provisions for setting-up small satellite gardens
later on, as and when finances so warrant. If the facilities of a botanical
garden are set-up within landscaped spaces, it can be recognized not only
for its aesthetic values but also for its recreational and tourism purposes
as well.


A botanical garden can also be a source of information and
knowledge that could be of interest to agriculture, to the extent that the
commercial possibilities of new plant species are experimented upon; it
could also be of interest to medical science to the extent that medicinal
plants are cultivated; and in general, its contribution to botanical science
and to collectors of rare plants cannot be overemphasized.

As a supportive institution to agricultural colleges, as an area of rest
and recreation and as a location for field trips for students and for
horticulturists, all these justify the introduction of a botanical garden as
envisioned in this bill.

There is always a time to begin something new in our country, even
if such a concept has already been tried and tested elsewhere in the world
and it is for this reason that this bill has been presented for consideration.

In view of the foregoing explanation, early approval of this bill is
requested.

w
LUIS R. VILLARUERTE


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
@uezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE'BILL'No. 336

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE BIKOL BOTANICAL GARDEN IN THE
PROVINCE OF CAMARINES SUR AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES

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

SECTION 1. There is hereby established, within the territorial
jurisdiction of the Province of Camarines Sur, a botanical garden to be
known as the “Bikol Botanical Garden”. It shall be located in the
Mount Curry National Park in the Municipality of Pili and occupy an area
of at least twenty-five (25) hectares to be determined and delineated
by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and
its facilities shall be built within landscaped spaces in order to create a
park-like recreational environment dedicated to botanic research,
experimental planting, collection of study specimen, and the teaching
and dissemination of botanic knowledge.

Sec. 2. The Bikol Botanical Garden shall have open-air plantings,
living plant collections housed in greenhouses either for conservation,
teaching or seasonal public display, and herbarium houses for

specimens.


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To the extent practicable as space and technical requirements may
allow, the Bikol Botanical Garden may have an arboretum for trees and
shrubs; a bamboo setum, pinetum; medicinal plants setum; flowering
and ornamental plants setum; aquatic plants setum; palm setum;
fernery; and orchidarium.

The facilities shall be built within a five-year period, depending
upon the availability of funds provided by the Provincial Government of
Camarines Sur, national government assistance, and donations and
grants from local or foreign sources.

Satellite gardens may be established elsewhere in a municipality
or city within the Province of Camarines Sur, either in an urban or rural
setting or both, depending upon the type of soil, topography or climatic
conditions required to cultivate or maintain plants intended or suitable
for such satellite gardens, and depending upon such appropriate
cooperative arrangements as may be agreed upon with the other local
governments within the Province of Camarines Sur.

Sec. 3. The buildings for its officials and staff, the library, and
facilities for conferences, seminars, workshops and audio-visual
presentations shall be built within a three-year period.

Sec. 4. The Bikol Botanical Garden shall endeavor to maintain a
system for the classification of plants for various utilitarian purposes;
adopt a program for botanical expeditions to augment its collections;
undertake studies and experiments on the commercial cultivation of

otherwise wild species of certain plants, arrange for exchanges with


other botanical gardens or collectors of plant samples or specimens it
may have or with other plants or specimens it seeks to have; cultivate
medicinal plants found in the Bicol Region or elsewhere; and establish
linkages with agricultural schools and other institutions interested in
botanical science.

Sec. 5. The Provincial Government of Camarines Sur shall, by
purchase or expropriation or by grants from the national government
or through donation from other governmental or private philanthropic
sources, provide or arrange to provide the lands suitable for
establishing the Bikol Botanical Garden and any satellite gardens
referred to in this Act.

The Provincial Government of Camarines Sur shall provide the
necessary capital outlays and operating expenses required to maintain
the botanical garden to be established under this Act.

Sec. 6. In the implementation of this Act, the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources and other agencies of the national
government shall extend technical assistance to the Provincial
Government of Camarines Sur.

Sec. 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved,