PENALIZING TIMBER SMUGGLING OR ILLEGAL CUTTING OF LOGS FROM PUBLIC FORESTS AND FOREST RESERVES AS QUALIFIED THEFT

WHEREAS, public forests and forest reserves are important
natural resources of the country which must be preserved and conserved
for future generations;

WHEREAS, public forests and forest reserves are the vital
source of logs and other wood products so essential to the national
economy as principal dollar earner of the country;

WHEREAS, it is the solemn duty of every citizen to protect
public forests and forest reserves from indiscriminate logging,
senseless denudation and wanton destruction to the detriment of the
present and future generations; and

WHEREAS, there is need to discourage further forest
destruction and denudation in order to conserve the remaining public
forests and forest reserves for the patrimony of the country;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution as
Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and
pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, and General
Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, do hereby order and decree:

SECTION 1. Any person, whether natural or juridical, who
directly or indirectly cuts, gathers, removes, or smuggles timber, or
other forest products, either from any of the public forests, forest
reserves and other kinds of public forests, whether under license or
lease, or from any privately owned forest lands in violation of existing
laws, rules and regulations shall be guilty of the crime of
qualified theft as defined and penalized under Articles 308, 309
and 310 of the Revised Penal Code: Provided, That if the
offender is a corporation, firm, partnership or association, the penalty
shall be imposed upon the guilty officer or officers, as the case may
be, of the corporation, firm, partnership or association, and if such
guilty officer or officers are aliens, in addition to the penalty herein
prescribed, he or they shall be deported without further proceedings on
the part of the Commission on Immigration and Deportation.

SEC. 2. All laws, rules and regulations inconsistent
herewith are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 3. This Decree shall take effect immediately after
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of
general circulation in the country.

Done in the City of Manila, this 8th day of November, in the year
of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-three.