Separate Opinion
G.R. No. 224469
18
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. (Emphasis and underscoring supplied)
In 1991, Sec. 68 above was eventually renumbered to Sec. 77 through
R.A. 7161. 40
As regards the "authority" required by law for the cutting, gathering,
and/or collecting timber or other forest products, its evolution is summarized
below:
E.O. No. 277
(1987)
P.D. 389 (1974)
P.D. 705 (1975)
"permit from the
Director"
"any authority , "any authority"
under a license
agreement, lease,
license, or
permit"
The evolution in the language of the law is not without significance.
From the preceding discussion, it can be deduced that the authority required
by the law has been expanded and is no longer confined to those granted by
the DENR. The use of the phrase "any authority" in the law's present wording
- without any qualification - ought to be construed plainly and liberally in
favor of petitioners. This is in accordance with the hombook principle that
penal laws shall be construed liberally in favor of the accused. 41 Moreover,
applying the doctrine of casus omissus pro omisso habendus est (meaning, a
person, object or thing omitted from an enumeration must be held to have been
40
41
R.A. 7161 provides:
SECTION 7. Section 77 of Presidential Decree No. 705, as amended, as numbered herein,
is hereby repealed.
Section 68 of Presidential Decree No. 705, as amended by Executive Order No. 277 dated
July 25, 1987, and Sections 68-A and 68-B of Presidential Decree No. 705, as added
by Executive Order No. 277, are hereby renumbered as Sections 77, 77-A and 77-B.
People v. Temporada, 594 Phil. 680 (2008).
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