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Pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 705, as amended, Executive Order No. 192 and in line with the policy of the Government to promote the development of tree plantation in private lands, the following rules and regulations are hereby issued and promulgated:

SECTION 1. Scope and Coverage - This guidelines shall cover the utilization and transport of plantation-grown wood in whatever form, e.g., logs, sawnwood, poles and piles, pulpwood, fuelwood, wood chips, and the semi-finished wood products derived therefrom.

Fruit trees are also included in this deregulation subject to existing regulation(s) of the Department of Agriculture.

SECTION 2. Definition of Terms - For the purpose of this Order, the following terms shall be defined as follows:

Private lands refer to all lands, covered by OCTs, TCTs including CLOAs, and tax-declared A & D lands with pending application for titling whether through administrative or judicial process.

Planted trees refer to exotic, usually fast growing tree species introduced by any private individual, group, associations, and/or cooperatives in private lands for any purpose.  However, endemic tree species (native) may be considered planted trees if it is determined by the field Forester(s) using appropriate silvicultural and acceptable methodologies, such as, but not limited to, tree age, layout of the stand, location of the tree claimed to be planted, among others, duly documented with pictures and certificate.

SECTION 3. Procedures - The transport of the wood and/or wood products of planted trees, regardless of volume, shall be accompanied by a Certification by the local tree farmers association, cooperative, federation, or in the absence of any, by the individual tree farmer concerned, duly authenticated and affirmed under oath by a private Registered Professional Forester, stating that the wood and/or wood products came from a particular private land, with the information on ownership of planted trees (as provided in their Tax Declaration), tree species, tally sheets, and delivery receipts.  However, certification is not necessary if the landowner does not intend to transport the wood and/or wood products from the private land.

Should there be no available private Registered Professional Forester in the municipality/city where the planted trees are located, a government Registered Professional Forester, not from DENR Forestry Sector, may be allowed to authenticate and affirm under oath the contents of the aforesaid certification, provided that authority to practice the forestry profession is secured from the Department Head.

A certified copy of the original Certification shall be filed at the DENR/CENRO and/or DENR monitoring station of origin and the original certification, duly acknowledged by the buyer/recipient of the shipment, shall be submitted to the DENR/CENRO and/or monitoring station at destination within 72 hours of arrival of shipment.

In case of any irregularities such as the shipment of wood or any pieces thereof as having not come from the private land concerned and/or falsification of the status (planted or naturally growing) of the tree cut and/or utilized, as may be revealed by any subsequent verification by the DENR, the DENR shall initiate the appropriate legal actions against all culpable parties, including but not limited to, the recommendation to the Society of Filipino Forester/s and/or the Professional Regulation Commission for sanction against the said Professional Forester.

SECTION 4. Development and Maintenance of Database - All CENROs shall coordinate with the City/Municipal Assessor's Offices within their jurisdiction to update the tax-declared properties with planted trees and develop/maintain a database on all tree plantations in private lands, which contains basic information such as area, location, trees species, and age and shall provide an annual copy of the database to the PENRO, Regional Office and the Forest Management Bureau.

The Forest Management Bureau, in coordination with the DENR Regional Offices, shall prescribe the format of the database and shall reconfigure the forestry statistics and information system to capture the statistics and other relevant information with the implementation of this Order.

As such, all CENROs, in coordination with the concerned City/Municipal Assessor shall conduct periodic validation of tax-declared properties with planted trees.

All DENR Regional Office, in coordination with the Regional Council Chairman of the Society of Filipino Foresters, shall maintain a database of existing Registered Professional Foresters within the region for monitoring purposes.

SECTION 5. Information and Dissemination - All DENR field offices are also required to discuss the provisions of this Order with the concerned LGUs, tree farmers associations/federations, private registered professional foresters and other stakeholders for effective information dissemination and smooth implementation of this Order.

SECTION 6. Repealing Cause - This Order amends pertinent provisions of DENR Memorandum Circular No. 99-20 and all other Orders, Memoranda, and Circulars inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed and amended accordingly.

SECTION 7. Effectivity - This Order shall take effect upon acknowledgement from the National Registry Center and after fifteen (15) days from the date of publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

Adopted: 16 Mar. 2004


(SGD.) ELISEA G. GOZON
Secretary