System of Land Classification.
SEC. 13. System of Land Classification.—The
Department Head shall study, devise, determine and prescribe the
criteria, guidelines and methods for the proper and accurate
classification and survey of all lands of the public domain into
agricultural, industrial or commercial, residential, resettlement,
mineral, timber or forest, and grazing lands, and into such other
classes as now or may hereafter be provided by law, rules and
regulations.
In the meantime, the Department Head shall simplify through
inter-bureau action the present system of determining which of the
unclassified lands of the public domain are needed for forest purposes
and declare them as permanent forest to form part of the forest
reserves. He shall declare those classified and determined not to be
needed for forest purposes as alienable and disposable lands, the
administrative jurisdiction and management of which shall be transferred
to the Bureau of Lands: Provided, That mangrove and other swamps
not needed for shore protection and suitable for fishpond purposes
shall be released to, and be placed under the administrative
jurisdiction and management of, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic
Resources. Those still to be classified under the present system shall
continue to remain as part of the public forest.
Existing Pasture Leases and Permits in Forest Lands.
SEC. 14. Existing Pasture Leases and Permits in
Forest Lands.—Forest lands which have been the subject of pasture
leases and permits shall remain classified as forest lands until
classified as grazing lands under the criteria, guidelines and methods
of classification to be prescribed by the Department Head: Provided,
That the administration, management and disposition of grazing lands
shall remain under the Bureau.
Topography.
SEC. 15. Topography.—No land of the public domain
eighteen per cent (18%) in slope or over shall be classified as
alienable and disposable, nor any forest land fifty per cent (50%) in
slope or over, as grazing land.
Lands eighteen per cent (18%) in slope or over which have
already been declared as alienable and disposable shall be reverted to
the classification of forest lands by the Department Head, to form part
of the forest reserves, unless they are already covered by existing
titles or approved public land application, or actually occupied openly,
continuously, adversely and publicly for a period of not less than
thirty (30) years as of the effectivity of this Code, where the occupant
is qualified for a free patent under the Public Land Act: Provided,
That said lands, which are not yet part of well-established
communities, shall be kept in a vegetative condition sufficient to
prevent erosion and adverse effects on the lowlands and streams: Provided,
Further, That when public interest so requires, steps shall be
taken to expropriate, cancel defective titles, reject public land
application, or eject occupants thereof.
Areas needed for forest purposes.
SEC. 16. Areas needed for forest purposes.—The
following lands, even if they are below eighteen per cent (18%) in
slope, are needed for forest purposes, and may not, therefore, be
classified as alienable and disposable land, to wit:
Areas less than 250 hectares which are far from, or are not
contiguous with, any certified alienable and disposable land;
Isolated patches of forest of at least five (5) hectares with
rocky terrain, or which protect a spring for communal use;
Areas which have already been reforested;
Areas within forest concessions which are timbered or have good
residual stocking to support an existing, or approved to be
established, wood processing plant;
Ridge tops and plateaus regardless of size found within, or
surrounded wholly or partly by, forest lands where headwaters emanate;
Appropriately located road-rights-or-way;
Twenty-meter strips of land along the edge of the normal high
waterline of rivers and streams with channels of at least five (5)
meters wide;
Strips of mangrove or swamplands at least twenty (20) meters
wide, along shorelines facing oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water,
and strips of land at least twenty (20) meters wide facing lakes;
Areas needed for other purposes, such as national parks,
national historical sites, game refuges and wildlife sanctuaries, forest
station sites, and others of public interest; and
Areas previously proclaimed by the President as forest
reserves, national parks, game refuge, bird sanctuaries, national
shrines, national historic sites:
Provided, That in case an area falling under any of the
foregoing categories shall have been titled in favor of any person,
steps shall be taken, if public interest so requires, to have said title
cancelled or amended, or the titled area expropriated.
Establishment of boundaries of forest lands.
SEC. 17. Establishment of boundaries of forest lands.—
All boundaries between permanent forests and alienable and disposable
lands shall be clearly marked and maintained on the ground, with
infrastructure or roads, or concrete monuments at intervals of not more
than five hundred (500) meters in accordance with established procedures
and standards, or any other visible and practicable signs to insure
protection of the forest.
Reservations in forest lands and offshore areas.
SEC. 18. Reservations in forest lands and offshore
areas.—The President of the Philippines may establish within any
lands of the public domain, forest reserve and forest reservation for
the national park system, for preservation as critical watersheds, or
for any other purpose, and modify boundaries of existing ones. The
Department Head may reserve and establish any portion of the public
forest or forest reserve as site or experimental forest for use of the
Forest Research Institute.
When public interest so requires, any offshore area needed for
the preservation and protection of its educational scientific,
historical, ecological and recreational values including the marine life
found therein, shall be established as marine parks.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
