Unlawful Occupation of Public Forest or Destruction of Forest Reserve.
Section 75
SEC. 75. Unlawful Occupation of Public Forest or Destruction of Forest Reserve. — It shall be unlawful for any person who, having no prior written permission from the Director or his duly authorized representative, willfully enter and occupy or possess for his own private use or for others any public forest, reforestation project, forest reserve of whatever character or municipal/city pasture or forest, or in any manner destroy such forest or part thereof, or to cause any damage to the timber stand and other forest products and forest growths found therein, or to assist, aid or abet any other person to do so. It shall be unlawful for any person to set or to negligently permit a fire which has been set upon his own premises or lands under his jurisdiction or occupied by him, to be communicated to any public forest hereinabove described. It shall further be unlawful for any person or association to occupy or use any part of the public forest without permit or lease as herein required, or cause damage to the forest or the resources found therein. Any person or association of persons found to have committed any of the aforesaid acts shall be fined not less than five hundred pesos (P500) and imprisoned for not less than six (6) months for each such offense; and shall likewise be liable to the payment of ten (10) times the rental and other charges now or hereafter provided for by regulations corresponding to the nature of use and the period that such area is illegally occupied; except that in cases falling under Sections 32 and 82 hereof, the penalty provided therein shall be imposed and no other, regardless of whether the entry, occupation and utilization of the area was made before the completion of the initial forest occupancy. In all cases falling under this Section the Court shall, upon conviction, order the eviction of the offender from the land and the forfeiture to the Government of all improvements made and all vehicles, domestic animals, and equipment of any kind used in the commission of the offense. If not suitable for use by the Bureau, said vehicles, domestic animals, equipments and improvements shall be sold at public auction, the proceeds of which shall accrue to the Research and Development Fund of the Bureau.