PENALIZING TIMBER SMUGGLING OR ILLEGAL CUTTING OF LOGS FROM PUBLIC FORESTS AND FOREST RESERVES AS QUALIFIED THEFT

• Number: Presidential Decree No. 330
• Sections: 4

Preamble

WHEREAS, public forests and forest reserves are important

natural resources of the country which must be preserved and conserved

for future generations;

WHEREAS, public forests and forest reserves are the vital

source of logs and other wood products so essential to the national

economy as principal dollar earner of the country;

WHEREAS, it is the solemn duty of every citizen to protect

public forests and forest reserves from indiscriminate logging,

senseless denudation and wanton destruction to the detriment of the

present and future generations; and

WHEREAS, there is need to discourage further forest

destruction and denudation in order to conserve the remaining public

forests and forest reserves for the patrimony of the country;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the

Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution as

Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and

pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, and General

Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, do hereby order and decree:

Section 1

SECTION 1. Any person, whether natural or juridical, who

directly or indirectly cuts, gathers, removes, or smuggles timber, or

other forest products, either from any of the public forests, forest

reserves and other kinds of public forests, whether under license or

lease, or from any privately owned forest lands in violation of existing

laws, rules and regulations shall be guilty of the crime of

qualified theft as defined and penalized under Articles 308, 309

and 310 of the Revised Penal Code: Provided, That if the

offender is a corporation, firm, partnership or association, the penalty

shall be imposed upon the guilty officer or officers, as the case may

be, of the corporation, firm, partnership or association, and if such

guilty officer or officers are aliens, in addition to the penalty herein

prescribed, he or they shall be deported without further proceedings on

the part of the Commission on Immigration and Deportation.

Section 2

SEC. 2. All laws, rules and regulations inconsistent

herewith are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 3

SEC. 3. This Decree shall take effect immediately after

publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of

general circulation in the country.

Done in the City of Manila, this 8th day of November, in the year

of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-three.

(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS

President

Republic of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) ROBERTO V. REYES

Assistant Executive Secretary