DENR: Elders in IP areas can now issue tree-cutting permits

By Gina Dizon

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- For quite some time, indigenous persons who cut trees in his communal or private lot have been arrested for violating Presidential 705 or the Revised Forestry Code of 1975.
    The law requires one to secure a cutting permit issued by the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources.  
    Not anymore with the issuance of a cutting permit by a council of elders in a particular indigenous cultural community within the framework of sustainable traditional indigenous forest management practice (STIFRMP) policy of DENR and the national commission on indigenous peoples (NCIP).
    DENR regional executive director Ralph Pablo said there is no need for a cutting permit to be issued by the DENR provided the necessary indigenous resource management plan (IRMP) of the indigenous community is done alongside an ancestral domain sustainable development protection plan (ADSDPP).
    This during a dialogue attended by indigenous mandatory representatives (IPMR) from this Province, Sangguniang Bayan members from the municipalities of Sagada, Tadian and Besao and representatives from the offices of the Sangguiang Panlalawigan, Provincial local government unit, NCIP and the DENR.
    The dialogue emanated from a request of Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan for an audience with DENR Sec. Roy Cimatu for a dialogue on forest resource management scheme based on indigenous practices. 
    The request was referred to the regional office of the DENR where RED director Ralph Pablo asked for a conference with the concerned members of the sangguniang bayan of the three municipalities and the SP.
    Pablo in his letter to Lacwasan said the documented STIFRMPs of the said municipalities are already in effect except the cutting of timber pending the submission of their respective Indigenous Resource Management Plan (IRMP).
    Certification of the council of elders to authorize the cutting of trees follows with compliance of requirements.
    Following the dialogue, the DENR and NCIP shall review the draft supplementary guidelines forwarded to Cimatu earlier in 2019 and the pending batangan ordinances of the three municipalities.
    The reviewed guidelines shall be given back to the municipalities concerned and to be substantiated with the making of IRMPs in separate municipal workshops.
    The municipalities of Sagada, Besao and Tadian of Mountain Province have pending barangay ordinances within the framework of STIFRMP still to be approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Mountain Province pending the submission of IRMPs.
    Said municipalities’ batangan policies have indigenous forest management practices of barangays in accordance with the STFIRMP under the joint administrative order (JAO) No.1 of the DENR and the NCIP in 2008 and in accordance with the IPRA and relevant DENR laws such as the DENR-NCIP memorandum circular 2003-01 adapting the manual on land survey procedures and DENR EO No 318 promoting sustainable forest management in the country.
    Said batangan policies were crafted following earlier documentation per municipality concerned with the assistance of the DENR in 2013 on to 2014. DENR guidelines require documented customary practices of forest management already incorporated in the ADSDPP per municipality.
    Documentation covered species found per town along with customary practices as to use, restrictions and access to forest products.
    The elders’ authority to issue a cutting permit comes with the compliance to a local STIFRMP ordinance with joint implementing rules and regulations (JIRR) approved by the DENR and the NCIP, and an IRMP.
    The IRMP covers a 5-year detailed plan with mission, aspirations, strategies for the protection, rehabilitation, development, and utilization of the forest resources.   
    The dialogue comes with the January 2021 decision of the Supreme Court who acquitted two members of the indigenous Mangyan-Iraya tribe who cut a tree and charged by the DENR for having violated PD 705 in 2005.
    The accused claimed they cut a dita tree for construction of a public toilet in accordance with authority given by their tribal elders.
    They also claimed the tree was cut from their ancestral domain so they have communal right in accordance to RA 8371 or the IPRA.
    The IP area in Oriental Mindoro is covered by a certificate of ancestral domain claim (CADC) and a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) on the process
    The trial court however found them guilty for violation of section 77 of PD 705 for no cutting permit to cut the tree.
    Case was forwarded to the Court of Appeals with the same arguments but the CA affirmed the decision of the trial court.
    The SC in their decision noted the authority given by elders to the accused as valid.
    The January 2021 decision of the Supreme Court  operationally strengthens the STIFRMP and municipal batangan ordinances still to be fully approved by the SP.
    The Supreme Court ruled that private lands as mentioned in section 77 in PD 705 include lands possessed by national minorities referred to as ancestral lands.
    The SC acquitted the accused and petition was granted reversing the decision of the trial court and court of appeals.
    The council of elders play a crucial role in the management of a batangan for they shall be the ones to issue the necessary certification before one can cut timber in a particular batangan. What rules govern the determination of an applicant for the cutting of trees in a particular batangan shall govern the basis for the council of elders to decide on. Each ancestral domain has its own customary practises. Though a broader ancestral domain has general rules for a batangan.

Batangan
“Batangan’ in the municipalities of Sagada, Besao and Tadian refers to age-old and proven indigenous forest management system that has been place since time immemorial that resulted to the conservation of forest cover considering that traditional ways of preserving, maintaining and protecting the forests have been passed on to generations.
    With this concept, many a resident in said municipalities have been accessing pine trees for use for housing, fuel for domestic and ritual purposes, and furniture.
    Many a resident too have been arrested and charged for violation of PD 705 for not securing a cutting permit from DENR before harvesting timber.
    Section 68 of D 705 provides that “cutting, gathering and/or collecting timber or other products without license. Any person who shall cut, gather, collect, or remove timber or other forest products from any forest land, or timber from alienable and disposable public lands, or from private lands, without any authority under a license agreement, lease, license or permit, shall be guilty of qualified theft as defined and punished under Articles 309 and 310 of the Revised Penal Code.
PD 705 or the Forestry Reform Law as a policy places emphasis on “on the protection, rehabilitation and development of forest lands, in order to ensure the continuity of their productive condition”.
    Many a case too has been that pine lumber was transported to Baguio and elsewhere obviously for commercial purposes.       Pablo said there are cases of “illegal commercial logging” that increased in the previous years further saying that the DENR shall apply PD 705 where lumber is transported and cross borders of STIFRMP municipalities.
    "Continued abuse of the environment is not only detrimental to the land and the community but will affect future generations and this is the reason why this dialogue is important because the problems that the environment is experiencing is not only one man’s problem but is everyone’s problem. That is exactly why it is essential to partner with the NCIP in strengthening traditional indigenous practices in Mountain Province because the essence of IP practices when it comes to environment is all about conservation, protection and sustainability," Pablo added.
    NCIP-CAR OIC-Regional Director Athanasios Addog said although indigenous peoples have a preferential right to utilize, harvest and extract resources in their area as per the ancestral domain policy, it is still limited to sustainable practices which means resources cannot be exhausted and is recognized under the IPRA.
    "Ancestral domain is not only the right of the Indigenous People. It is our obligation and responsibility to preserve and maintain ecological balance because our ancestral domain is recognized not only for ourselves but also for the coming generations who will inherit our domain. This is an intergenerational responsibility which is why indigenous practices in harvesting our resources is important because it supports this concept," Addog added.
    Batangan system as a concept in the DENR was introduced by then PENRO officer for Mountain Province Manuel Pogeyed. This went through consultations with LGUs in 2009 on to 2014 to the crafting of batangan ordinances by LGUs concerned within the Joint AO No 1 of 2008 01 or the “guidelines and procedures for the recognition, documentation, registration and confirmation of all sustainable traditional indigenous forest management systems and practices of indigenous cultural communities (ICCs) or indigenous peoples (IPs) in ancestral domain or land.”
    As provided in  the JAO No 1 between NCIP and DENR, the DENR-CAR has been tasked to conduct the zoning, survey, and mapping and inventory of timber resources for the identified communities in the three municipalities.
    The cutting of trees, planting, protecting, and harvesting activities are components of the program.
    Forester Christopher G. Bosaing of Community Environment and Natural Resources Office of Mountain Province said the batangan system is an approach for the advancement of the existing sustainable conservation, use, and management of the natural resources and to respect and sustain the resource rights of the ICCs/IPs through equitable access to natural resources.
    The finished guidelines were projected to cover specific towns in the six provinces namely, Tubo, Bucloc, Boliney and Salapadan in Abra; Calanasan, Pudtol and Cabuyao in Apayao; Bakun and Bokod in Benguet; Asipulo, Kiangan and Hungduan in Ifugao; Tinglayan, Pasil and Balbalan in Kalinga; Tadian, Besao, Sagada, Natonin and Barlig in Mountain Province.
    In 2011, documentation followed on traditional practices on forest resource management in said areas and crafted namely lapat in Abra and Apayao, batangan in Mt. Province, imong in Kalinga, muyong in Ifugao and kidjuwan in the Ibaloi areas in Benguet.
    Information drive was earlier launched in 2009 by Augusto Lagon, Regional Technical Director of the Forest Management Service; PENRO Manuel Pogeyed, CENRO Max Macliing, and Foresters Moises Bai and Sapla in Tadian and Christopher Bosaing in Sagada and Besao.
    Of the documented resource management systems, the muyong of Ifugao and the lapat of Abra gained momentum in its legal operationalization within the framework of STIFRMP.
    The controversial provision of PD 705 which provides  “No land of the public domain 18 percent in slope or over shall be classified as alienable and disposable, nor any forest land 50 percent in slope or over, as grazing land” now comes to be modified with the recent January 2021 decision of the Supreme Court.
    That with an earlier decision of the Supreme Court in 1909 in the Carino Doctrine which recognized native title that “recognizes as valid land rights established by testimonies or memories that the land has been held, occupied and utilized in ownership since time immemorial.”