EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 725
EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 725 -
FACILITATING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF INDUSTRIAL TREE PLANTATIONS
WHEREAS, the establishment of
Industrial Tree Plantations (ITP) is encouraged as Government policy
under P.D. No. 705 and P.D. No. 1559;
WHEREAS, LOI 423 (PROFEM) provides for the establishment of Industrial
Tree Plantations as a step to intensify and accelerate Forest Ecosystem
Management;
WHEREAS, the establishment of such Industrial Tree Plantations must be
facilitated and accelerated in order to hasten the country’s
reforestation efforts, which shall promote ecological balance and
assure an adequate wood supply for our growing population;
and
WHEREAS, Timber License Agreement (TLA) areas constitute a major part
of the Country’s forest lands within which are portions needing
revegetation, including open, denuded, brushland, and inadequately
stocked areas.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines,
by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby
direct and order that:
Section 1. The establishment of Industrial Tree
Plantation (ITP) in open, denuded, brushland and inadequately stocked
areas is hereby mandated for immediate implementation as one of the
priority projects of the Government.
Sec. 2. In accordance with P.D. No. 1559 which
provides for the establishment, development, and maintenance of forest
tree plantations, the Minister of Natural Resources, through the Bureau
of Forest Development (BFD), shall, with the assistance of the
licensees, accelerate the identification and delimitation of suitable
areas within timber concessions for reforestation and conversion into
industrial tree plantation; Provided, That existing timber license
holders shall be given a period of six (6) months from the date of
promulgation of the rules and regulations mentioned in Paragraph 13
hereof:
(a)
to apply for an ITP lease agreement over areas under Paragraph 1 hereof
suitable for growing trees, but not exceeding 30% of the total TLA
area; or (b) to undertake implementation of an approved 7-year
reforestation plan, or (c) to do both (a) and (b); Provided, Further,
That timber license holders shall, in total compliance of reforestation
requirements as imposed by existing letters of instruction, rules and
regulations, submit to the Bureau of Forest Development within the same
period, a new seven-year reforestation program to reforest with
dipterocarp, premium, and/or fast-growing species, all open, denuded,
brushland, and inadequately stocked areas which are not converted into
ITP, which shall be immediately implemented after its approval by the
BFD.
Sec. 3. For the development and operation of the
ITP, the timber license holder may form a new corporation with other
investors. The timber license holder shall warrant the development and
implementation of the ITP in accordance with the provisions of the ITP
Lease Agreement. Should the corporation fail to carry out the
development of such plantation within the period specified in such
lease agreement, the timber license holder shall lose any rights that
he may have in such license, and such shall be considered
revoked.
Sec. 4. In case the timber license holders fail to
apply for ITP or to undertake implementation of an approved 7-year
reforestation plan over available suitable areas inside their
concessions within the period provided herein, their priority option
shall be deemed waived and such areas shall be made available to third
parties, which may include Regional Cooperatives for an ITP
application, grant and establishment, without prejudice to cancellation
of the TLA; Provided, That failure to comply with the reforestation
program shall be sufficient cause for the summary suspension of the
timber license, and if the violator is a log exporter, his log export
permit shall be revoked, until such time that the holder of the timber
and/or export permit shall have made up for the deficiency, which shall
be within a period not exceeding one (1) year from date of notice of
the deficiency.
Sec. 5. The timber licensees, shall in any case
plant suitable dipterocarp or other premium tree species as well as
fast-growing species in line with their approved reforestation program.
Sec. 6. For the purpose of establishing ITP’s, the
term “inadequately stocked areas” shall refer to forest land with an
existing stand of timber containing an average per hectare of less than
20 trees of dipterocarp and endangered species with diameters of not
more than 20 centimeters at breast height; Provided, That all
dipterocarp and endangered species therein shall not be cut except when
so authorized in accordance with BFD rules and regulations covering the
matter.
Sec. 7. Areas segregated for ITP development shall
be contiguous and for this purpose, patches of adequately stocked areas
may be included as part of the ITP where such inclusion would preserve
the contiguity of the ITP area, and the following conditions are
complied with:
A.
That such adequately stocked areas shall not exceed thirty percent
(30%) of the total area applied for development as ITP;
B. That at
least five percent (5%) of the total area of the ITP shall be
maintained as permanent wilderness reserved; and
C. That the
balance of the adequately stocked areas shall be used as buffer zone,
and the harvesting of mature or overmature and defective trees therein
shall be properly regulated.
Sec. 8. Land so identified as suitable for ITP
establishment as herein provided shall be segregated from the timber
concessions concerned after the corresponding ITP Lease Agreement in
the form hereafter attached as Annex “A”, shall have been issued over
such areas.
Sec. 9. Areas outside forest concessions that are
found suitable for ITP development shall likewise be made available to
any interested parties.
Sec. 10. The ITP Lease Agreement shall provide for
a term of twenty-five (25) years, which shall be automatically renewed
at the option of the lease for a like period of twenty-five (25) years
if the lessee has complied with the terms and conditions of the lease
agreement and with existing laws; Provided, That upon the expiration of
the lease, the lessee shall be entitled to fair compensation for
standing trees and other improvements introduced by the lessee and left
on the land, in an amount to be determined by a third party appraiser
mutually acceptable to both lessor and lessee. The compensation for the
standing trees shall be in accordance with the formula provided in the
ITP Lease Agreement hereto attached as “Annex “A”. The lessee shall be
entitled to compensation for permanent infrastructure based on their
fair market value as of the expiration date. The lessee may remove the
temporary or semi-permanent structures, unless the lessor opts to
retain them by paying their fair market value as of the expiration
date. The value of the improvements shall be finally determined by the
appraiser mutually accepted by both parties. Subsequent lessees to the
same area shall reimburse the Government for the compensation paid
hereunder to the previous lessee.
Sec. 11. The Government, thru the National
Development Company (NCD), may participate in the equity of the new ITP
Corporation, in joint venture with the ITP lessee; Provided, That the
Minister of Natural Resources and the Director of the Bureau of Forest
Development or their duly authorized representatives, shall sit as
non-voting ex officio members in the Board of Directors of the new
corporation to assure that Government forest conservation policies and
objectives are carried out. Furthermore, the NDC, the Development Bank
of the Philippines, Central Bank, and other government financing
institutions shall extend assistance to ITP projects in obtaining long
term and low interest loans.
Sec. 12. Employees of the lessee working in the
ITP by the nature of their work, shall be considered as agricultural
workers entitled to benefits as provided for by the Ministry of Labor
for that category.
Sec. 13. The Ministry of Natural Resources in
consultation with the Ministry of Industry and the private wood
industry sector shall within 60 days from date hereof, promulgate the
necessary rules, regulations and guidelines to effectively implement
this executive Order.
Sec. 14. Within a period of one hundred twenty
(120) days, the BFD shall either approved or reject the application for
ITP as provided herein. If the application is approved, the Ministry of
Natural Resources and the applicant shall execute an Industrial Tree
Plantation Lease Agreement in the form hereafter attached as Annex “A”
within thirty (30) days from the date of approval. When necessity
demands, and the lessor and the lessee are agreeable, the Minister of
Natural Resources may vary the terms and conditions of the aforesaid
ITP Lease Agreement, provided always that the new terms and conditions
are within the intent of this Executive Order. The lessee shall start
plantation development within one (1) year from the date of execution
of the said ITP Lease Agreement.
Sec. 15. All existing Executive Orders, Letters of
Instruction, Administrative Orders, Rules and Regulations, and other
issuances inconsistent herewith are hereby amended or modified
accordingly.
Sec. 16. This executive Order shall take effect
immediately.
Done in the City of Manila,
this 9th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred
and eighty-one.
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