4
Dissenting Opinion
G.R. No. 224469
First. The language of Section 77 of PD No. 705, which remained
unamended even with the passage of IPRA, is plain and clear - any person who
shall cut xx x forest products x x x without any authoriry xxx shall be punished.
The use of the word "any person," without any distinction nor exemption as to the
coverage of the penal provision, makes it clear that everyone is a potential offender
of the crime. Where the law does not distinguish, the courts should not distinguish.
Ubi lex non distinguit nee nos distinguere debemus.
Second. It appears that the Legislature, in enacting PD No. 705, already
considered the members of the indigenous groups. Therefore, they could be
penalized under its provisions.
Third. Sections 37 to 39 of PD No. 705, as amended, provide for the
statutory basis for the State to protect our forests and regulate timber utilization in
all classes of lands:
SEC. 37. Protection of all Resources. - All measures shall be taken to
protect the forest resources from destruction, impairment and depletion.
SEC. 38. Control ofConcession Area. - In order to achieve the effective
protection of the forest lands and the resources thereof from illegal entry,
unlawful occupation, kaingin, fire, insect infestation, theft, and other forms of
forest destruction, the utilization of timber therein shall not be allowed except
through license agreements under which the holders thereof shall have the
exclusive privilege to cut all the allowable harvestable timber in their respective
concessions, and the additional right of occupation, possession, and control over
the same, to the exclusive of all others, except' the government, but with the
corresponding obligation to adopt all the protection and conservation measures
to ensure the continuity of the productive condition of said areas, conformably
with multiple use and sustained yield management.
xxxx
SEC. 39. Regulation of Timber Utilization in all Other Classes ofLands
and of Wood-Processing Plants. -The utilization of timber in alienable and
disposable lands, private lands, civil reservations, and all lands containing
standing or felled timber, including those under the jurisdiction of other
government agencies, and the establishment and operation of saw-mills and other
wood-processing plants, shall be regulated in order to prevent them from being
used as shelters for excessive and unauthorized harvests in forest lands, and shall
not therefore be allowed except through a license agreement, license, lease or
permit. (Emphasis supplied.)
Fourth. The IPRA merely gives the indigenous people "priority rights in the
harvesting, extraction, development or exploitatipn of any natural resources within
the ancestral domains," viz:
Sec. 57. Natural Resou~ces within Ancestral Domains. -The ICCs/IPs
shall have the priority rights in the harvesting, extraction, development or
exploitation of any natural resources within the ancestral domains. A nonmember of the ICCs/IPs concerned may be allowed to take part in the
development and utilization of the natural resources for a period of not exceeding
/