Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

Eighteenth Congress
First Regular Session

2979

HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by Honorable Lucy Marie Torres-Gomez

EXPLANATORY NOTE

On 16 May 2011, the nation was shocked to learn about the devastation
of our marine resources when two large container of some 21,000 species of
black coral and some 161 endangered turtles and other marine life were
apprehended by Customs officials.

The abominable act has been referred to as the “rape of the ocean”
especially when it was learned than an entire coral reef off the coast of
Cotabato, still unexplored, and estimated to be about twice the size of Manila,
was decimated and a male turtle, aged 80 to 100 years old, was killed.

Coral reefs are the lifeblood of our fish and aquatic resources. They are
homes to majority of these marine species. Their exploitation and destruction
by humans aggravate the fact that corals have been suffering a slow and painful
death, through coral bleaching, from the warming of waters of the ocean
brought about by global warming.

Soon, we will have no more fish and other aquatic resources to harvest.
No more diving spots as the source of tourism pride. The livelihood of our
fisher folks and our economy in general hang in the balance such as that the
abhorrent act referred to above might as well be dubbed as “The Crime of the
Century.”

Our laws must, therefore, be more dynamic in addressing the pressing
need to further protect this aspect of our heritage.


Republic Act No. 8550, otherwise known as “The Philippine Fisheries
Code of 1998,” as amended by Republic Act No. 10654, penalizes, among
others, coral exploitation and exportation, and fishing or taking of rare,
threatened or endangered species. Our lawmakers, in providing for the
penalties, however, may have only envisioned singular or minors acts of these
kinds.

In this regard, there is a need to further amend certain provisions of RA
8550 in order to fortify our drive to protect our natural resources, especially the
large scale exploitation of our marine resources, by making the imposable
penalties therefor more severe and, hence more deterrent against future
violation. Verily, some of these offenses must be converted into non-bailable
offenses. After all, punishment must be commensurate with the crime
committed.

To further strengthen the enforcement of fishery laws, this bill likewise

proposes the inclusion of a system of rewards and incentives to our law
enforcement officers and other persons who may aid them in their duties as

such.
CD theay

LUCY JE Te 'S-GOMEZ


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

Eighteenth Congress
First Regular Session
2979
HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by Honorable Lucy Torres-Gomez

AN ACT

DEFINING AND PROVIDING FOR MORE SEVERE PENALTIES FOR
LARGE SCALE EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION OF CORALS
AND CORAL REEFS, AND FISHING OR TAKING OF THREATENED
OR ENDANGERED SPECIES, AND OTHER SIMILAR ACTS OF
DESTRUCTION OF OUR MARINE AND AQUATIC RESOURCES,
FURTHER AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE CERTAIN PROVISIONS
OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8550, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE
PHILIPPINE FISHERIES CODE OF 1998, AS AMENDED BY REPUBLIC
ACT NO. 10654

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

SECTION 1. Section 92 of Republic Act No. 8550, as amended by
Republic Act No 10654, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

“Section 92. Fishing Through Explosives, Noxious or Poisonous
Substance, or Electricity.

IKK KX.

Upon conviction by a court of law, the offender shall be punished
with imprisonment from TWELVE (12) TO TWENTY (20)
YEARS [five (5) to ten (10) years], confiscation of catch, including
those not caught illegally if co-mingled with those caught illegally,
gear, explosives and noxious or poisonous substances, or
electrofishing devices and paraphernalia, gear, and a fine equivalent


to twice the amount of the administrative fine, without prejudice to
the filing of separate criminal cases when the use of the same result
to physical injury or loss of human life.

XXX XXX XXX

SEC. 2. Section 96 of the same Code, as amended, is hereby further
amended to read as follows:

Section 96. Ban on Coral Exploitation and Exportation. — It shall be
unlawful for any person or corporation to gather, possess,
commercially transport, sell or export ordinary, semi-precious and
precious corals, whether raw or in processed form, except for
scientific or research purposes. It shall also be unlawful for any
person, corporation or entity to commit any activity that damage
coral reefs.

Upon a summary finding of administrative liability, the
owner/operator of the fishing vessel/s, boat captain, master
fisherman, and recruiter or organizer of fishworkers shall be
punished with an administrative fine equivalent to eight (8) times
the value of the corals gathered, possessed, commercially
transported, sold, or exported, or the amount of Five hundred
thousand pesos (P500,000.00) to Ten million pesos
(P10,000,000.00), whichever is higher, and forfeiture of the subject
corals. The offender shall also pay compensation for the restoration
of the damaged corals reefs.

Upon conviction by a court of law, the boat captain, master
fisherman, and recruiter or organizer of fishworkers, shall be
punished by imprisonment from ten (10) years to twenty (20) years
and a fine equivalent to twice the administrative fine and forfeiture
of the subject corals. HOWEVER, FOR LARGE SCALE CORAL
EXPLOITATION, THE PUNISHMENT SHALL BE
IMPRISONMENT FROM FORTY (40) YEARS TO LIFE
IMPRISONMENT AND THE FINE AS HEREINBEFORE
PROVIDED. FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS CODE, THE TERM
“LARGE SCALE” SHALL COVER CORALS, EXTRACTED OR
EXPLOITED WEIGHING NOT LESS THAN TEN (10)
KILOGRAMS.


The offender shall also be required to pay the cost of restoration of
the damaged coral reefs based on available studies and as
determined by the Department.

SEC. 3. Section 97 of the same Code, as amended, is hereby further
amended to read as follows:

Section 97. Ban on Muro-ami, Other Methods and Gear Destructive
to Coral Reef’: and Other Marine Habitat. — (a) It shall be unlawful
for any person, natural or juridical, to fish with gear or method that
destroys coral reef’, seagrass beds, and other fishery marine life
habitat as may be determined by the Department. ‘Muro-ami’ and
any of its variation, and such similar gears and methods that require
diving, other physical or mechanical acts to pound the coral reefs
and other habitat to entrap, gather or catch fish and other fishery
species are also prohibited.

Upon a summary finding of administrative liability, the owner,
operator, boat captain, master fisherman, and recruiter or organizer
of fishworkers who violate this provision shall suffer the penalty of
an administrative fine equivalent to five (5) times the value of the
fish caught or Two million pesos (P2,000,000.00), whichever is
higher, and confiscation of catch and gear. The fishworkers who
serve as pounders shall be penalized with a fine of Twenty thousand
pesos (P20,000.00) or community service in case of failure to pay
the fine.

Upon conviction by a court of law, the boat captain, master
fisherman, and recruiter or organizer of fishworkers shall be
punished with imprisonment of two (2) years to ten (10) years and a
fine equivalent to twice the amount of the administrative fine.

LARGE SCALE DESTRUCTION OF CORALS, CORAL REEFS,
AND SEAGRASS BEDS, THROUGH “MURO-AMI”
ACTIVITIES, HOWEVER, SHALL BE PUNISHED WITH
IMPRISONMENT FROM FORTY (40) YEARS TO LIFE
IMPRISONMENT, OR A FINE FROM ONE MILLION PESOS
(P1,000,000.00) TO TEN MILLION PESOS (P10,000,000.00) OR
BOTH SUCH FINE AND IMPRISONMENT, AT THE
DISCRETION OF THE COURT.


XXX XXX XXX

SEC. 4. Section 102 of the same Code, as amended, is hereby further

amended, as follows:

Section 102. Fishing or Taking of Rare, Threatened or Endangered
Species. — (a) It shall be unlawful to fish or take, catch, gather, sell,
purchase, possess, transport, export, forward or ship out aquatic
species listed in Appendix I of the Convention on the International
‘Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), or
those categorized by the International Union for Conservation of
Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) as threatened and determined
by the Department as such.

Upon a summary finding of administrative liability, the Department
shall penalize the offender with a fine equivalent to five times (5)
times the value of the species or Five hundred thousand pesos
(P500,000.00) to Five million pesos (P5,000,000.00), whichever is
higher, and forfeiture of the species.

Upon conviction by a court of law, the offender shall be punished
by imprisonment of TWENTY (20) YEARS TO FORTY (40)
YEARS [twelve (12) years and one (1) day to twenty (20) years]
and a fine equivalent to twice the administrative fine, forfeiture of
the species and the cancellation of fishing permit.

XXX XXX XXX

SEC. 5. Section 159 of the same Code, as amended, is hereby further
amended, as follows:

Section 125. Strengthening Prosecution and Conviction of Violators
of Fishery Laws. — The Department of Justice (DOJ) shall embark
on a program to strengthen the prosecution and conviction aspects
of fishery law enforcement through augmentation of the current
complement of state prosecutors and through their continuous
training and reorientation of fishery laws, rules and regulations.

THE DEPARTMENT SHALL LIKEWISE IMPLEMENT A
SYSTEM OF REWARD AND INCENTIVES FOR THE LAW


ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND/OR INFORMANTS OF
VIOLATORS OF THIS CODE. THE AMOUNT OF MONETARY
REWARD, IF ANY, SHALL NOT BE MORE THAN FIFTEEN
PERCENT (15%) OF THE MINIMUM IMPOSABLE FINE, AND
SHALL BE PAID WITHOUT UNNECESSARY DELAY, TO
THE PROPER RECIPIENTS, UPON THE FILING OF THE
INFORMATION WITH A COMPETENT COURT, OR UPON
THE ISSUANCE OF A COMMITMENT ORDER IN CASE OF
LAWFUL WARRANTLESS ARREST.

SEC. 6. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in

the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,