EN BANC
G.R. No. 224469 - DIOSDADO SAMA y HINUPAS and BAND
MASANGLAY y ACEVEDA, petitioners, versus PEOPLE OF T
PHILIPPINES, respondent.
Promulgated:
January 5, 2021 j'
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SEPARATE OPINION
CAGUIOA, J.:
The factual backdrop of the case is simple and quite straightforward:
petitioners, who are members of the Iraya-Mangyan indigenous community
and residing within their ancestral domain in the hinterlands of Baco, Oriental
Mindoro, within the contemplation of the Republic Act No. (R.A.) 8371 or
the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (IPRA), felled one dita 1 tree for the
construction of a communal toilet, without having first secured a permit from
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) pursuant to
Section. 77 2 of the Forestry Reform Code of the Philippines (Presidential
Decree No. [P.D.] 705), as amended. The factual context of the case covers a
breadth of interwoven legal issues that bear upon the foremost question of
whether or not herein petitioners may be rightly convicted.
If peered from a constitutional law angle, the view is fraught with
reluctance and equal but contrary propositions exist, in part due to the fact that
our laws have evolved with inexactness, and have become open to a plurality
of persuasions. The lens of constitutional determination may invite that the
case be seen from a "State v. Indigenous Peoples" point of view, on the one
hand, or a "healthful ecology" framing, on the other. To my mind, neither
viewpoint invalidates the other, for the socio-historically complex relation
between indigenous peoples' rights and environmental laws are so
inextricably linked that any imprecise step in one direction or another may
cost highly for both separate but joined causes.
Scientific name: Alstonia scholaris. Also known as devil's tree (English), rite (Indonesian), pulai
(Malay), among others. See: <http://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb/AFTPDFS/ Alstonia_scholaris
.PDF>
SECTION 77. Cutting, Gathering and/or Collecting Timber, or Other Forest Products Without
License. - Any person who shall cut, gather, collect, remove timber or other forest products from any
forest land, or timber from alienable or disposable public land, or from private land, without any
authority, or possess timber or other forest products without the legal documents as required under
existing forest laws and regulations, shall be punished with the penalties imposed under Articles 309 and
310 of the Revised Penal Code: Provided, That in the case of partnerships, associations, or corporations,
the officers who ordered the cutting, gathering, collection or possession shall be liable, and if such
officers are aliens, they shall, in addition to the penalty, be deported without further proceedings on the
part of the Commission on Immigration and Deportation.
The court shall further order the confiscation in favor of the government of the timber or any forest
products cut, gathered, collected, removed, or possessed as well as the machinery, equipment,
implements and tools illegally used in the area where the timber or forest products are found.
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