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A collection of Philippine laws, statutes and codes not included or cited in the main indices of the Chan Robles Virtual Law Library.
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ACT NO. 2590
ACT NO. 2590 - AN ACT FOR THE
PROTECTION OF GAME AND FISH
Section 1. Except as in this Act provided, it shall be
unlawful to hunt, wound, take, or kill, or have in his or her
possession, living or dead, or to purchase, offer or expose for sale,
transport, ship or export, alive, or dead, any protected bird or
mammal, or to sell or have in possession for sale any part of either.
It shall likewise be unlawful for any person to take or willfully
destroy the nest or eggs of any protected bird or to have such nest or
eggs in his or her possession except as provided in section fourteen of
this Act.
Sec. 2. The term "protected bird" includes
insect-eating birds, song birds, game birds, and generally all wild
birds; Provided, however, That eagles, hawks, crows, house sparrows,
herons, galancians, mayas and such other species as the Secretary of
Agriculture and Commerce may determine, may be destroyed by property
owners whenever they become injurious to their property; but the game
birds contemplated in the next succeeding section shall be deemed to be
"protected" within the meaning of this Act, only during the continuance
of the respective closed seasons established for them.
Mammals shall be deemed to be "protected" within the meaning of this
Act, only during the continuance of the respective closed seasons
established for them.
Sec. 3. The Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce
shall have authority subject to the approval of the President of the
Philippines to establish a closed season for all or any of the game
birds mentioned below or any other game bird, or birds, specified by
him, to wit: the Indian dwarf goose, duck, rail, coot, mudhen,
gallinule, plover, surf bird, snipe, woodcock, sand-piper, tattler,
curlew and other shore birds, wild chicken, pheasant, quail, wild
pigeon, doves of all classes, hornbill, mound builder, brush turkey,
and other game birds.
He may in like manner establish a closed season for deer, mouse deer,
tamaraw, squirrel, lemur, or any other mammals, specified by him,
except the wild pig which may be taken or killed as provided in section
fourteen hereof.
Sec. 4. A close season established by the
Secretary of the Interior may be so defined as to cover a particular
portion, or portions, of each successive year, or if deemed necessary
for the public interest, it may be made to extend over any single
period of time of not more than five years' duration.
Sec. 5. The order creating a close season may be
made applicable to the entire Philippines or to any specified province
or other territorial division therein .
For the protection and conservation of wild life and upon the
recommendation of the director of the Bureau of Science, the Secretary
of Agriculture and Commerce may set aside any area or areas of public
land or public forest as game refuges and bird sanctuaries.
All national parks, botanical gardens, public parks, public schools
sites, public play grounds, Government experiment and breeding
stations, Government seed farms, Government stock farms, public
building sites, Government nurseries, communal forests, communal
pastures, cemeteries, and all public lands and forests within a radius
of one kilometer from any Government rest house are declared game
refuges and bird sanctuaries. It shall be unlawful for any person, to
hunt, take, wound or kill, or in any manner disturb or drive away from
the places mentioned above, any wild birds or animals, or take or
destroy the nests or eggs of such birds in the said places.
Sec. 6. Such order shall be issued at least two
months before the date of its taking effect, and if general, it shall
be published in the Official Gazette once a week for three consecutive
weeks prior to the same date.
An order applying to a province, municipality or other territorial
division, shall be published once a week for three consecutive weeks,
in a local newspaper, if any there be, and copies of the order shall be
posted at the main entrance of the provincial and municipal buildings
and in said buildings, before it is to take effect.
The Secretary of the Interior shall also adopt in each case such other
means of publicity as he shall deem expedient to spread and maintain
knowledge of the existence of the order among the people to be affected
by it.
Sec. 7. It shall be unlawful at all times for any
person, to purchase offer, or expose for sale, alive or dead, any
protected bird or mammal, or to sell or have in possession for sale any
part of either, except Permits to that a permit may be granted by the
Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources to any person of good
repute of protected of the age of fifteen years or upward permitting
the holder thereof to collect specimens of protected animal life, or
the nests or eggs of protected birds, for propagating or scientific
purposes only. Such a permit shall remain in force for a period of one
year only from the date of issue and shall not be transferable.
Upon proof that the holder of such a permit has taken or killed any
protected creature or taken the nest or eggs of any protected bird for
other than propagating or scientific purpose, he shall be subject to
the same penalty as if he had no permit.
Sec. 8. It shall be unlawful for any person to
hunt with a firearm or an air gun or to use a firearm or an air gun as
a weapon against game of any sort without having previously procured an
appropriate hunting license, the fee for which shall be, in the case of
a resident of the Philippine Islands, of an officer or enlisted man of
the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, Philippine Scouts and Philippine
Constabulary, two pesos and in the case of non-resident, twenty pesos.
Sec. 9. Hunting licenses shall be issued by the
Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources or his duly authorized
representative, subject to such regulations and restrictions as shall
be promulgated for the purpose.
Sec. 10. Members of the Philippine Constabulary
and members of the municipal and township police, foresters, rangers,
forest guards of the Bureau of Forestry, Land Inspectors, Surveyors of
the Bureau of Lands, Agricultural extensions agents, plant inspectors
of the Bureau of Plant Industry and such other persons as may be
designated in writing by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural
Resources are hereby made deputy game wardens with full authority to
enforce the provisions of this Act and to arrest offenders against it.
Sec. 11. The making of any false statement upon
the application blank for any hunting license shall subject the
offender to the forfeiture both of his license and weapons, in addition
to the other penalty hereinafter provided.
Sec. 12. It shall be unlawful for any person to
lend a hunting license or firearm to another for the purpose of
hunting; and it shall likewise be unlawful for any person to procure or
have in his possession for the purpose of hunting any hunting license
or firearm pertaining to another. Any hunting license or firearm found
in the unlawful possession of any other person than its proper owner
shall be forfeited: Provided, however, That nothing in this Act
contained shall be understood to prohibit any officer or enlisted man
of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, Philippine Scouts or Philippine
Constabulary, serving in the Philippine Islands, to use for hunting
purposes, rifles or shot-guns belonging to the Governments of the
United States or of the Philippine Islands.
Sec. 13. Except as provided in this Act, it shall
be unlawful to hunt, kill, or capture any "protected" bird or mammal by
means of artificial light, swivel gun, or by means of a shotgun larger
than number ten gauge or any gun other than that which can be fired
from the shoulder, or by means of airplanes of any sort, or to shoot,
kill or capture, any wild duck from any boat or floating device under
motion, or by means of nets in case of small birds and small
games.
The possession of a lantern for hunting at night shall be prima facie
evidence of having acquired it with the intention of using same to
catch, kill, or hunt birds, mammals or game animals protected by this
Act, at night.
Sec. 14. Wild pigs may be taken or killed in any
manner at any season of the year and without license; and monkeys, wild
cats and other mammals not mentioned herein may be caught or destroyed
by property owners at any time that such animals cause destruction to
their property; and nothing in this Act shall be construed as to
prohibit the catching, taking, selling or keeping for domestic pet such
birds as the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may determine by
order or to prevent the taking of edible birds' nests under license
duly issued pursuant to the provisions of Act Numbered Thirty-three
hundred and seventy-nine.
Sec. 15. Repealed by CA 291, section 2, enacted
June 18, 1939.
Sec. 16. Members of the Non-Christian tribes in
the provinces of Agusan, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Mountain Province,
Palawan, and Lanao who are dependent upon the flesh of wild birds and
mammals for their subsistence shall be authorized by special license;
upon application addressed to the mayor of the municipality, municipal
district or settlement, game warden, or such official as may be
recommended to the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce by the
provincial or deputy governor wherein such persons reside, as the case
may be, subject to such conditions as to mode of hunting, number,
species, and sex of animals and otherwise as may be prescribed by the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce or his duly authorized
representative, to hunt and take game birds and mammals and to take
bird eggs, in order to secure food for themselves and their families,
but nothing herein shall be construed to permit the hunting of game
birds and mammals or bird eggs within a game refuge or bird sanctuary
or the use of artificial lights for hunting game or birds, or to permit
the sale during the closed season of the whole or any portion of the
game taken or killed in accordance with this section: Provided, That as
soon as the Secretary of the Interior shall certify that the majority
of the Non-Christian inhabitants of a municipality, municipal district,
or settlements have sufficiently advanced in civilization, then the
Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce with the approval of the
President of the Philippines, may declare that the general provisions
of this Act shall apply to such municipality, municipal district, or
settlement wherein such Non-Christians reside.
Sec. 16(a). Any person who, during the close
season, has in his possession, sells, barters, or exchanges, or offers
for sale, barter or exchange, any bird, mammal or game animal protected
under the provisions of this Act, shall be presumed to have taken,
caught and hunted said bird or mammal in violation of the provisions of
this Act and shall be subject to the penalties herein prescribed.
Sec. 16(b). For the purposes of this Act, all cold
storage plants shall be required to furnish the Secretary of
Agriculture and Natural Resources or his duly authorized representative
a monthly statement setting forth all wild birds and mammals deposited
with them, the date of deposit and the names of the persons making the
deposit.
Sec. 17. Any person violating this Act or any
order or regulation deriving force from its provisions shall be
punished for each offense by a fine of not less than ten pesos nor more
than two hundred pesos. In case of insolvency the corresponding
subsidiary imprisonment shall be suffered, and, in case of subsequent
offense, the court may impose, in addition to the fine, an imprisonment
not exceeding thirty days. Fifty per centum of the collected fine shall
be paid to the informer specified in the judgment of the court.
Sec. 18. Act Numbered Seventeen hundred and
ninety-eight and its amendments are hereby repealed, without prejudice
to the prosecution thereunder of any criminal offense heretofore
committed against the provisions of said Act; and orders heretofore
promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to said Act shall
continue to operate with the same effect as if issued under the present
Act.
Sec. 19. This Act shall take effect upon its
passage.
ENACTED, February 4,1916.
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