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Pursuant to Section 91 of R.A. 8550, otherwise known as the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, this regulation banning coral exploitation and exportation is hereby promulgated.

SECTION 1. Definition of Terms . — As used in this Order, the following terms are defined as follows:

a. Person — includes a natural or juridical person

b. Coral — consists of small anemone-like organisms belonging to Phylum Coelenterata which secrete their own skeletons of various forms that may be hard, soft, stony or horny, and shall include the following:

i) Precious coral — skeleton of anthozoan coelenterata characterized as having a rigid axis of calcareous or horny spicules, belonging to the genus Corallium as represented by the red, pink and white corals.

ii) Semi-precious coral — skeleton of anthozoan coelenterata characterized a thorny, horny axis, such as the Antipatharians as represented by the black corals.

iii) Ordinary coral — all kinds of coral other than precious and semi-precious corals.

c. Exploitation — the actual extraction, gathering and collection in accordance with acceptable coral development and conservation practices.

d. Exportation — the actual sending or shipping of corals to another country for sale.

SECTION 2. Prohibition . — It shall be unlawful for any person or corporation to gather, possess, sell or export ordinary, precious and semi-precious corals whether in raw or in processed form.

SECTION 3. Exception . — The Secretary of Agriculture through the Director of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources may, however, issue a special permit to research institutions to gather any coral in limited quantities for scientific or research purposes, except those coral species listed in CITES Appendix.

SECTION 4. Penalty . — Violation of this Order shall subject the offender to imprisonment from six months to two (2) years and a fine from two thousand pesos (P2,000.00) to twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court and forfeiture of the subject corals, including the vessel and its proper disposition.

SECTION 5. Disposition . — The confiscated corals shall either be returned to the sea or donated to schools and museums for educational and scientific purposes or disposed through other means most favorable to the Government.

SECTION 6. Repealing Clause . — All existing administrative orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Order are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 7. Effectivity . — This Order shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette and/or two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Adopted: 14 Aug. 2000

(SGD.) EDGARDO J. ANGARA Secretary
Recommended by:
(SGD.) MALCOLM I. SARMIENTO, JR. Director Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources	(SGD.) CESAR M. DRILON, JR. Undersecretary for Fisheries and Legislative Relations