By authority of the United States, be it
enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:
Section 1. The short title of this Act shall be "The
Forest Act."
Sec. 2. The public forests and forest reserves of
the Philippine Islands shall be held and administered for the
protection of the public interests, the utility and safety of the
forests, and the perpetuation thereof in productive condition by wise
use; and it is the purpose of this Act to provide for the same.
Sec. 3. The public forests shall include all
unreserved public lands covered with trees of whatever age.
Sec. 4. Upon the recommendation of the Chief of
the Bureau of Forestry, with the approval of the Secretary of the
Interior, the Civil Governor may set apart forest reserves from the
public lands, and he shall by proclamation declare the establishment of
such reserves and the boundaries thereof, and thereafter such forest
reserves shall not be entered, sold, or otherwise disposed of, but
shall remain as such for forest uses, and shall be administered, except
as provided in this section, in like manner as the public forests under
this Act: Provided, That the Civil Governor may in like manner by
proclamation alter or modify the boundaries of any forest reserve from
time to time, or revoke any such proclamation, and upon such revocation
such forest reserve shall be and become part of the public lands as
though such proclamation had never been made.
Sec. 5. The public forests and forest reserves and
the timber, firewood, gums, and other products thereof shall not be
sold, entered, leased, or otherwise disposed of except as herein
provided: Provided, That any mining claim, as defined in section one of
Act Numbered Six hundred and twenty-four, entitled "An Act prescribing
regulations governing the location and manner of recording mining
claims, and the amount of work necessary to hold possession of a mining
claim, under the provisions of the Act of Congress approved July first,
nineteen hundred and two, entitled 'An Act temporarily to provide for
the administration of the Affairs of civil government in the Philippine
Islands, and for other purposes,'" in any of the public forests and
forest reserves shall be entered only as provided in said Act Numbered
Six hundred and twenty-four, and the provisions of this Act shall not
be applicable to the entry and location of such claims, but they shall
be governed by Act Numbered Six hundred and twenty-four exclusively:
And provided further, That the authority given by the Chief of the
Bureau of Forestry, as hereinafter provided, to issue licenses for the
taking of stone and earth from public forests and forest reserves shall
be understood to apply only when such stone and earth is taken from
lands not more valuable for mining purposes than for other purposes,
and therefore not subject to entry as a mining claim.
Sec. 6. No prescriptive right to the use,
possession, or enjoyment of any forest product, nor any permanent
concession, continuing right, privilege, or easement, of any kind
whatsoever, upon or within or respecting the products of the public
forests or forest reserves, shall accrue or be granted except as
provided in this Act. But the public forests and forest reserves shall
be and remain open of access for all lawful purposes to the people of
the Philippine Islands except as provided in this Act.
Sec. 7. Lands in public forests upon the
certification of the Chief of the Bureau of Forestry that said lands
are better adapted and more valuable for agricultural than for forest
purposes and not required by the public interests to be kept under
forest, shall be declared by the Secretary of the Interior to be
agricultural lands.
When in his opinion the public interests so required, the Chief of the
Bureau of Forestry may make application to the Chiefs of the Bureaus of
Agriculture and Public Lands for the detail of an official from each of
said Bureaus to form, with an official from the Bureau of Forestry, a
committee for the purpose of assisting said Chief of the Bureau of
Forestry in making this certification, and upon the receipt of said
application it shall be the duty of each of said Chiefs of the Bureaus
of Agriculture and Public Lands to direct one of this subordinates to
render the assistance applied for.
Sec. 8. The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, with
the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, shall prescribe such
regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act as may be
expedient or necessary for the protection, management, reproduction,
occupancy, and use of the public forests and forest reserves, and the
said Chief, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, is
hereby authorized to alter and revise such regulations. He shall in
particular provide for the use of the public forests and forest
reserves in such manner as to insure for the future a continued supply
of valuable timber and other forest products.
Sec. 9. The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, with
the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, may upon proper terms
which he may deem reasonable, lease, as herein provided, tracts of land
not exceeding four hectares in extent in the public forests and forest
reserves, to any person or to any association of persons holding timber
licenses, for occupancy as sites for sawmills or timber depots, and the
Secretary of the Interior may grant free rights of way through the
public lands to enable such person or association of persons to get
access to the lands to which such licenses apply.
Sec. 10. The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, with
the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, may select for sale or
disposal, and may sell or dispose of by license, from the public
forests and forest reserves, at rates of charge to be established by
him in accordance with the provisions of sections eleven and twelve of
this Act, any timber, firewood for commercial use, gums, resins, and
other forest products, whose removal will not be detrimental to the
public forests reserves or to the interests which depend upon them.
Sec. 11. For the purposes of this Act the various
provinces in the Philippine Islands are divided into two classes:
Class A shall include the Provinces of Abra, Bataan, Batangas, Benguet,
Bulacan, Capiz, Cavite, Cebu, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, Laguna,
Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Rizal, Romblon, Sorsogon, Tarlac, La
Union, and Zambales.
Class B shall include the Provinces of Albay, Ambos Camarines, Antique,
Bohol, Cagayan, Isabela, Lepanto-Bontoc, Leyte, Masbate, Mindoro,
Misamis, Moro, Nueva Vizcaya, Occidental Negros, Oriental Negros,
Paragua, Samar, Surigao, and Tayabas.
For the purposes of this Act the various native trees are divided into
four groups:
The first group shall include acle, baticulin, betis, camagon, ebony,
ipil, lanete, mancono, molave, narra, tindalo, and yacal.
The second group shall include alupag, aranga, banaba, bansalaguin,
banuyo, batitinan, bolongeta, calamansanay, calantas, dungon, guijo,
macaasin, malacadios, mangachapuy, palo maria, supa, teak, and
tucan-calao.
The third groups shall include agoho, amuguis, anubing, apitong,
batino, bitanhol, calumpit, catmon, cupang, dalinsi, dita, dungonlate,
malacmalac, malapapaya, malasantol, mayapis, nato, palosapis, panao,
sacat, santol, tamayuan, and tanguile.
The fourth group shall include anahao, anam, apuit, bacao, balacat,
balinhasay, batete, bayoc, bonga, bulao, lauan, malaanonang, malabalac,
malabonga, mangasinoro, manicnic, pagatpat, and pagsainguin.
Sec. 12. The metric system of weights and
measures, as adopted by sections thirty-five hundred and sixty-nine and
thirty-five-hundred and seventy of the Revised Statutes of the United
States, shall be used.
On each cubic meter of timber which may be cut in any public forest or
forest reserve in any of the provinces of the Philippine Islands for
domestic sale or consumption, or for export, there shall be paid,
within thirty days from date of the receipt by the owner or his agent
of the order of payment of the government charge on the same, into the
Insular Treasury, as provided by existing law, the following sums:
On all timber included in the first group cut in any provinces in Class
A, five pesos; when cut in any province included in Class B, two pesos
and fifty centavos.
On all timber included in the second group cut in any province included
in Class A, three pesos; when cut in any province included in Class B,
one peso and fifty centavos.
On all timber included in the third group cut in any province included
in Class A, one peso and fifty centavos; when cut in any province
included in Class B, one peso.
On all timber included in the fourth group and on all non-enumerated
timber cut in any province included in Class A, one peso; when cut in
any province included in Class B, fifty centavos: Provided, That when
timber cut in provinces included in Class A has been selected for
felling by duly authorized forest officials, the rates on such timber
shall be only such as are fixed in this section to timber cut in
provinces included in Class B: And provided further, That the taxes
imposed in this section on ebony and camagon shall be charged on said
timbers when presented for measurement and appraisal with the sapwood
still attached; and the number of cubic meters in each piece of timber
so measured shall include the sapwood attached to the same, and when
ebony or camagon timber from which the sapwood has been stripped is
presented for measurement and appraisal, there shall be assessed and
collected the following sums:
On each cubic meter of ebony cut in any province included in Class A,
thirteen pesos and fifty centavos; when cut in any province in Class B,
six pesos. On each cubic meter of camagon cut in any province included
in Class A, eight pesos; when cut in any province in Class B, four
pesos and fifty centavos.
The volume of all round timber shall be ascertained by multiplying the
area of the small end by the length of the log. The volume of all
squared timber shall be ascertained by multiplying the average cross
section by the length, to which twenty-five per centum shall be added
for loss in squaring. The volume of all sawn timber shall be
ascertained by multiplying the average cross section by the length, to
which fifteen per centum shall be added for loss in sawing.
All timber included in the preceding section in the third and fourth
groups and all nonenumerated timber cut in any province, known in the
market under the name of "raja" and which shall not exceed one and
one-half meters in length and fifteen centimeters in diameter, shall be
classed as firewood, and the following taxes shall be collected thereon;
On all firewood consisting of "rajas" from sixty centimeters to one and
one-half meters in length, and from seven centimeters to fifteen
centimeters in diameter, one peso for each one thousand "rajas."
On all firewood consisting of pieces of timber less than sixty
centimeters in length and less than seven centimeters in diameter, ten
centavos per cubic meter: Provided, That whenever in the opinion of the
Chief of the Bureau of Forestry the preservation and use of the public
forests and forest reserves shall render necessary the removal of the
tops of fallen timber, said tops when removed in accordance with the
regulations prescribed by the Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, shall be
exempted from the payment of any tax imposed in this section on timber
or firewood or other forest products.
On all gums and resins and other forest products gathered or removed
from any province there shall be paid on the actual market value
thereof ten per centum. The Collector of Internal Revenue and the Chief
of the Bureau of Forestry shall upon the passage of this Act, and from
time to time thereafter, make a joint assessment of the actual market
value of the various products on which taxes are imposed in this
section; said assessments shall be made from the most reliable data
available and shall be published in the Official Gazette for the
information of taxpayers.
Sec. 13. The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, with
the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, may, as herein provided,
issue licenses for the cutting, collection, and removal of timber,
firewood, gums, resins, and other forest products from the public
forests and reserves. Every license so issued shall specify in detail
the rights to which it entitles the holder and shall provide, whenever
practicable, for exclusive territory in similar products to each
licensee. All licenses for timber shall provide for the selection of
said timber before cutting: Provided, That when absolutely necessary
the selection of timber or the granting of exclusive territory may, in
the discretion of the Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, be omitted in
any license terminating not later than June thirtieth, nineteen hundred
and eight, after which date the selection of timber and the granting of
exclusive territory whenever practicable shall be required.
Sec. 14. No license granted under the provisions
of this Act shall continue in force for more than twenty years. The
Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, with the approval of the Secretary of
the Interior, may, in granting any exclusive license, prescribe such
terms, conditions, and limitations not inconsistent with the provisions
of this Act, including a minimum amount of timber to be cut within a
specified period or periods of time, as may be deemed by the Chief of
the Bureau of Forestry and Secretary of the Interior to be in the
public interest, and may provide in such licenses for forfeiture
thereof in case of violation of such terms, conditions, or limitations.
Sec. 15. The Chief of Bureau of Forestry, with the
approval of the Secretary of the Interior, shall publicly announce what
classes of licenses shall be issued.
Sec. 16. The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry may,
for violations of the Forest Act or of the regulations, to be
determined and declared by him, with the approval of the Secretary of
the Interior, revoke or temporarily suspend any license.
Sec. 17. A gratuitous license to cut and use
timber for mining purposes shall be granted on application to the
holder, locator, owner, lessee, or operator of a mining claim. Said
license shall be limited to the claim on which the timber is cut, and
no timber shall be used under such license except in the development of
the claim upon which it is cut. Said license shall specify the kinds
and uses of the timber to which it entitles the holder, and the
territorial limits within which it is valid. A miner's timber license
to cut timber in the public forests or forest reserves other than that
standing on the claim and desired for the development of said claim may
be obtained on application by the holder, locator, owner, lessee, or
operator of a mining claim. Said license shall specify the kinds and
uses of the timber to which it entitles the holder and the territorial
limits within which it is valid. The government charge on timber thus
used under a miner's timber license shall be one-half the rate
prescribed for the province within which said timber is cut.
Sec. 18. The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, with
the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, may designate for sale
or disposal, and may sell or dispose of by license from the public
forests and forest reserves, stone or earth the removal of which will
not be detrimental to the public forests or forest reserves or to the
interests which depend upon them. The rates of charge shall be
determined by him in each case with like approval.
The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry may, with the approval of the
Secretary of the Interior, grant licenses for the removal of such stone
or earth, and in such licenses may prescribed such terms, conditions,
and limitations, including a minimum amount of stone or earth to be
removed within a specified period or periods of time as may be deemed
by the Chief of the Bureau of Forestry and the Secretary of the
Interior in the public interest, and may provide in such licenses for
forfeiture thereof in case of violation of such terms.
Sec. 19. The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry,
under regulations to be prescribed by him, with the approval of the
Secretary of the Interior, may grant gratuitous licenses for the free
use of timber, firewood, gums, resins, and other forest products, and
of stone and earth, in reasonable quantities and within definite
territorial limits, for domestic purposes, and not for sale, barter, or
any other use whatsoever. He may also, within definite territorial
limits, similarly prescribed the free use of forest products and of
stone and earth for public works: Provided, That a gratuitous license
for woods of the first group shall not be issued.
Sec. 20. The Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, with
the approval of Secretary of the Interior may, when the public
interests so require, make requisition upon the Bureau charged with
public surveys, to proceed to demarcate, establish on the ground, and
erect monuments along the boundaries of any public forest or forest
reserves; and it shall be the duty of the last-named Bureau to comply
with said requisition: Provided, That no duplicate of work shall be
caused by such demarcation: And provided further, That the cost of such
demarcation shall be delayed from the revenues of the public forests or
forest reserves.
Sec. 21. In order to promote uniformity and
cooperation in the forest work of the Philippine Islands and the United
States, and to facilitate the comparison of results, the methods of the
Philippine Bureau of Forestry in forest measurement, timber tests,
silvicultural observations, and other forest work, shall, so far as
practicable, and in the discretion of the Chief of the Bureau of
Forestry, be based upon the corresponding methods of the Bureau of
Forestry of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Sec. 22. No officer or employee of the Bureau of
Forestry shall have any pecuniary interest in any forest or in any
business in lumber, firewood, gums, resins, or other forest products,
or stone or earth, in the Philippine Islands: Provided, That this
prohibition shall not apply to guards or assistant guards, or to
persons temporarily acting as guards or assistant guards.
Sec. 23. Every official, employee, or agent of the
Bureau of Forestry is empowered to make arrests without process in or
upon the public forests or forest reserves, or territory adjacent
thereto, of any person who is committing or attempting to commit any
violation of this Act or the regulations established thereunder, and it
shall be the duties of governors of provinces, the Philippine
Constabulary, and of municipal presidents to assist in making the
arrests prescribed in this section when called upon to do so. Where the
person or persons found violating the provisions of this Act are
members of a non-Christian tribe, they shall be dismissed with a
warning in the case of a first offense, but upon conviction of a second
offense shall be punished as in this Act provided for violations
hereof. When any arrest is made under the provisions of this section
without warrant, the official, employee, or agent of the Bureau of
Forestry shall obtain a warrant from competent authority at the
earliest practicable moment under the circumstances. Prisoners with or
without warrant shall in all cases within twenty-four hours, if
reasonably practicable, be brought before a judge or justice of the
peace having jurisdiction over the offense for examination and release
under bail if the offense is bailable.
Sec. 24. Every private owner of forest land shall
register his title to the same with the Chief of the Bureau of
Forestry. In the absence of such registration, wood cut from alleged
private lands and not from public forests or forest reserves shall be
considered as cut under license from public forests or forest reserves
and shall be subject to all provisions of this Act and of the
regulations established thereunder in such case applicable.
When in his opinion the public interests so require, the Chief of the
Bureau of Forestry may make application to the examiner of the Court of
Land Registration or the fiscal of the province in which the land lies,
for such assistance as may be necessary in the examination of the
titles thereof, with a view to their registration in the Bureau of
Forestry, and upon the receipt of such application it shall be the duty
of the fiscal or examiner of titles, as the case may be, to render the
assistance applied for by the Bureau of Forestry.
Sec. 25. The cutting, clearing, or destroying of
the public forests or forest reserves, or any part thereof, for the
purpose of making caingins, without lawful authority, is hereby
prohibited, and whoever, in violation of this provision, shall cut,
clear, or destroy the same, for such purpose, or shall wilfully or
negligently set fire thereto, shall, upon conviction by a court of
competent jurisdiction, be punished by a fine not exceeding a sum
equivalent to twice the regular government charge upon the timber so
cut, cleared, or destroyed, and, in addition thereto, by imprisonment
not exceeding thirty days, in the discretion of the court.
The cutting, collecting, destroying, or removing of timber or other
forest products, stone, or earth from the public forests or forest
reserves for any other purpose than making a caingin, without license,
permit, or other sufficient authority, is hereby prohibited, and any
person who, in violation of this provision, shall so cut, collect,
destroy, or remove the same, by himself, through an agent or employee,
or for account of another, shall, in addition to the payment of the
regular government charge on such timber, forest product, stone, or
earth, be subject to the payment of an additional sum equivalent to the
regular government charge thereon, which shall be collected as in this
Act provided in the case of other government charges.
Sec. 26. Whenever an exclusive license of any
class shall have been issued to any person, company, corporation, or
other association for the cutting or removing, from the public forests
or forest reserves, of timber, firewood, or other forest products,
stone, or earth, it shall be unlawful for any other person, company,
corporation, or association, while such license is in force, to enter
or operate within the territory covered by such exclusive license
contrary to the terms thereof: Provided, That the residents within or
adjacent to said territory may be permitted to cut or remove timber,
firewood, other forest products stone, or earth for domestic purposes.
If contrary to the provisions of this section, any person, company,
corporation, or other association shall enter upon, and shall cut or
remove, or attempt to cut or remove, timber, firewood, other forest
products, stone, or earth, said property so attempted to be cut or
removed shall be seized as government property, by the local forest
official or other representative of the Forestry Bureau, and the person
making the seizure shall promptly notify the holder of the exclusive
license affected thereby, and the said property so seized shall be
surrendered to him upon the payment of the proper government charges
thereon. Should, however, acceptance of said property and the payment
of the charges thereon be refused, it shall be disposed of in the
manner provided in section thirty-two of this Act for the disposition
of forest products, stone, or earth on which the government charges
have not been paid, and the proceeds turned over to the proper official
to whom the government charges thereon should have been paid.
Sec. 27. No fire for clearing shall be started on
private forests, woodlands, or fields adjoining public forests or
forest reserves, without written permission first obtained from the
local forest officer, or, in the absence of such officer, from the
president of the municipality or settlement in which such forests,
woodlands, or fields are situated. A copy of said written permission,
when given by a president, shall be furnished by him to the local
forest officer prior to the burning contemplated, when practicable; and
said fire shall, when practicable, be lighted in the presence of such
forest officer, president, or duly authorized municipal official. Any
person violating any of the provisions of this section shall, upon
conviction, be subject to a fine not exceeding one hundred pesos or by
imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or both.
Sec. 28. Whoever, without authority of law, shall
cut, make, manufacture, or have in his possession any government
marking hatchet or other marking implement, or any mark, poster, or
other device officially used by officers of the Bureau of Forestry for
the marking or identification of timber or other forest products, or
any duplicate, counterfeit, or imitation thereof, or who shall
fraudulently make or apply a government mark to timber or any other
forest product by means of any authentic or counterfeit government
marking hatchet, implement, mark, poster, or other device, or who shall
fraudulently alter, deface, or remove government marks from logs,
stumps, firewood, or other forest products, shall, upon conviction, be
punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred pesos, or by imprisonment
not exceeding one year, or both.
Sec. 29. Neglect, unreasonable delay, or
falsification in the making of reports, presentation of papers, or in
other acts required by the provisions of this Act or the Forestry
Regulations, or refusal to make reports, present papers, or to perform
other acts required by this Act or the Forestry Regulations, shall,
upon conviction, unless otherwise specially provided by law, be
punished by a fine not to exceed two hundred pesos.
Sec. 30. Whoever, in violation of the provisions
of this Act or of the Forestry Regulations or orders made in accordance
herewith, transports, removes, or discharges from any ship, boat, raft,
car, cart, or other means of transportation, forest products, or stone
or earth, or fails to pay the amounts due the Government on forest
products, stone, or earth for a period of more than thirty days from
the date of the receipt by him or his agent of the order directing the
payment of the same, shall, in addition to the regular government
charges thereon, be subject to the payment of the sum of fifty per
centum thereof, to be collected as in this Act provided for the
collection of other government charges.
Sec. 31. In the absence of a local forest officer
the president of the municipality or settlement within which timber or
other forest products are cut or collected, shall act in his stead. Any
president who, in the absence of a local forest officer, shall neglect,
or unreasonably delay to prepare and sign a statement of timber or
other forest products, stone, or earth cut or collected within the
territory under his authority, or to inspect firewood or other forest
products cut or collected for local use in said territory, or to
perform other acts required by the provisions of this Act, shall, upon
conviction, be subject to a fine not to exceed fifty pesos; and the
Chief of the Bureau of Forestry, with the approval of the Secretary of
the Interior, shall prepare and furnish to local presidents the
necessary instructions defining their duties under this Act.
Sec. 32. Forest products, stone, or earth on which
the government charges have not been paid as prescribed by law, and
which have been seized in accordance with the provisions of this Act,
shall be offered for sale at public auction, unless redeemed as
hereinafter provided.
Fifteen days after any tax on any forest products, stone, or earth
shall have become due and remains unpaid, the local forest officer
shall prepare and sign a certified copy of the records of his office
showing the person or persons delinquent in payment of such taxes, the
amounts thereof, and of the costs and additional charges, respectively
due from him or them. The forest officer thereupon shall proceed at
once to seize the forest products, stone, or earth of the delinquent,
and unless redeemed as hereinafter provided, to sell at public auction,
at some public place near where such property is seized, as the local
forest officer shall determine, so much of the same as shall satisfy
the tax, additional charges, and costs of seizure and sale, to the
highest bidder for cash, after due advertisement by notice posted at
the main entrance of the municipal building in the municipality in
which such seizure is made and at a public and conspicuous place in the
barrio in which the property was seized, stating the time, place, and
cause of sale. The certified copy of the local forest officer's record
of delinquents, attested by the secretary of the municipality within
which the forest products were seized, approved by the forest inspector
or forester in charge of the forest or inspection district, shall be
his warrant for thus proceeding, and the purchaser at such sale shall
acquire an indefeasible title to the property sold. Within two days
after the sale the local forest officer shall make return of his
proceedings in writing to the Bureau of Forestry and shall reserve a
copy thereof to be kept by him as an official record, which shall also
be attested by the municipal secretary: Provided, That if there is no
bidder, or if the highest bid is only equal to or less than the sum
total of the taxes, costs, and additional charges, the Chief of the
Bureau of Forestry shall have discretionary power to declare the same
sold to the Government in satisfaction of such taxes, costs, and
charges, and to invoice said products to the provincial supervisor or
to any other public official charged with similar duties, for use in
public works. The proceeds of such auction sales shall be paid to the
official to whom the government charges on the same should have been
paid, who shall pay any surplus resulting from the sale over the above
the tax, costs, and additional charges to the person on account of
whose delinquency the sale has been made.
Sec. 33. The owner of forest products seized may
deem the same from the local forest officer or collecting officer at
any time after seizure and before sale by tendering to him the amount
of the taxes, costs, and additional charges incurred up to the time of
tender. The costs to be charged in making such seizure and sale shall
embrace only the actual expense of the seizure and preservation of the
property pending the sale, and no charge shall be imposed for the
services of the local forest officer or collecting officer or his
deputy.
Sec. 34. Whenever authority is given in this Act
for the imposition of any additional charge administratively, any
person aggrieved by the imposition of such additional charge may,
within twenty days after payment thereof, appeal therefrom to the Court
of First Instance of the province in which the additional charge was
imposed, and that court shall have jurisdiction, after due hearing, to
confirm the imposition of the additional charge or to reverse or modify
the same. Judgments of the Courts of First Instance in such cases shall
be certified to the Bureau of Forestry, and, when in favor of the
taxpayer, such judgment shall also be certified to the Auditor for the
Philippine Islands, who shall issue a certificate for payment by
settlement warrant upon the Insular Treasurer, under the provisions of
Act Numbered three hundred and fifty-seven, and shall charge the amount
of the warrant against the forestry collections of the province and
municipality from which the timber was cut or the forest product
obtained: Provided, That if an appeal from the judgment of the Court of
First Instance is taken by the Bureau of Forestry, the Chief of said
Bureau shall immediately notify the Auditor, who shall withhold
settlement of the account pending final decision of the court.
Sec. 35. From and after May twentieth, nineteen
hundred and four, there shall be paid on all timber, firewood, gums,
resins, and other forest products, and stone and earth cut, gathered,
or removed from all public forests or forest reserves on and after May
twentieth, nineteen hundred and four, the respective taxes, costs, and
additional charges imposed on such products in this Act. The payment of
all such taxes shall be made within thirty days after the date of the
receipt by the owner or his agent of the order directing payment, and
the payment of the proceeds of auction sales, and of all charges and
costs imposed by officers or employees of the Bureau of Forestry, shall
be made immediately upon the receipt of the order directing payment, to
collectors of internal revenue or to provincial or municipal
treasurers, as provided by law. The charges prescribed by General
Orders, Numbered Ninety-two, series of nineteen hundred, office of the
United States Military Governor of the Philippine Islands, shall be
collected on all forest products cut, gathered, or removed prior to May
twentieth, nineteen hundred and four.
Sec. 36. All sums of money mentioned in this Act
shall be deemed to be in Philippine currency.
Sec. 37. General Orders, Numbered Ninety-two,
series of nineteen hundred, issued by the Military Governor of the
Philippine Islands; Act Numbered Two hundred and seventy-four, entitled
"An Act prohibiting the unauthorized destruction of timber on public
lands;" section twenty of Act Numbered Forty-nine, entitled "An Act
providing for the establishment of a civil government for the Province
of Benguet;" section eleven of Act Numbered One hundred and nineteen,
entitled "An Act extending the provisions of the Provincial Government
Act and the Municipal Code to the Province of Occidental Negros;" and
section eleven of Act Numbered One hundred and twenty, entitled "An Act
extending the provisions of the Provincial Government Act and the
Municipal Code of the Province of Oriental Negros," are hereby repealed.
Sec. 38. This Act shall take effect on its
passage, except sections eleven, twelve, and thirty-seven, which shall
take effect May twentieth, nineteen hundred and four.
Enacted May 7, 1904.
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