[ Act No. 2590., February 04, 1916 ]
AN ACT FOR THE PROTECTION OF GAME AND FISH.
By autority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Legislature, that:
SECTION 1. Except as in this Act provided, it shall be unlawful for any person in the Philippine Islands 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, fish, shellfish, or mammal, or to sell or in have in possession for sale any part of either. It shall likewise be unlawful for any person to tkae or wilfully destroy the nest or eggs of any protected bird to have such nest or eggs in his or her possession.
SEC. 2. The term "protected bird" includes insect-eating birds, song birds, and generally all wild birds except those commonly known as eagle, hawks, owls, English sparrows, candangaho or garzas pardas (brown herons) crows, galancian and mayas; but the game birds contemplated in the next succeeding section shall be deemed to be "protected," within the meaning in this Act, only during the continuance of the respective close seasons established for them.
SEC. 3. The Secretary of the Interior shall shall have authority, subject to the approval of the Governor-General to establish a close season for all or anyn of the game birdsmentioned below or any other game bird, or birds, specified by him, to wit, the goose, duck, rail, coot, mudhen, gallinule, shore bird, plover, surf bird, snipe, woodcock, sandpiper, tattler, curlew, wild chicken, pheasant, quail, wild pigeon, pigeon, doves of all classes, hornbill, mound builder, brus turkey.
He may in like many establish a close season for fish or shellfish, or for deer, musk deer, tamaraw, squirrel, lemur, or any other mammal, or mammals, specified by him, except the wild pig.
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 Philippine Islands or to any specified province or to other territorial division therein, and if realting to fish or shellfish, may be limited to a particular water or stream.
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 orer shall be posted at the main entrance of the provincial and municipal buildings and in said buildings, before its 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. A permit may be granted to the Secretary of the Interior to any person of good repute of fifteen years upward permitting the holder thereof to specimens of protected animal life, or the nests or eggs of protected birds, for 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 a scientific purpose, he shall be subject to the same penalty as if he had to permit.
SEC. 8. It shall be unlawful for any person to hunt with a firearm or to use a firearm 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 any officer or enlisted man of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, Philippine Scouts and Philippine Constabulary, two pesos, and in the case of a nonresident, twenty pesos.
SEC. 9. Hunting licenses shall be issued by the Chief of Constabulary subject to such regulations and restrictions as shall be established by him, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Police.
SEC. 10. Members of the Philippine Constabulary and members of municipal and township police are hereby made deputy game wardens with full authority to enforce the provision 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 shut-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 nets in the case of 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 pig and the birds commonly known as eagles, hawks, garzas pardas, (brown herons) known as candangaho, owls, crows, English sparrows, galancian and mayas may be taken or killed in any season of the year; and nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit the keeping of the bird for a domestic pet or to prevent the taking edible birds nest under license duly issued.
SEC. 15. It shall be unlawful to place, cause to be placed, discharge or deposit, or to pass or place where it can pass into the water of the Philippine Islands any petroleum, acid, coal or oil-tar, lamp-black, aniline, asphalt, bitumen or residuary product of petroleum or carbonaceous material or substance, or any refuse, liquid or solid, from any oil refinery, gas house, tannery, distillery, chemical works, mill or factory of any kind, or any sawdust, slabs or factory refuse or any material substance deleterious to fish or plant life: Provided, That nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit the retting of maguey, sisal, sansevieria and its similars in the rivers and on the seashore.
SEC. 16. Actual residents of the Department of Mindanao and SUlu, and the Mountain Province, shall be permited at all times 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 contrued to permit the use of artificial lights for hunting game or birds, or to permit the sale during the close seasons of the whole or any portion of the game taken or killed in accordance with this section.
With the approval of the Governor-General, the privilege granted in the preceding paragraph may be conferred by the Secretary of the Interior upon
the residents of any township or territorial subdivision in any province.
SEC. 17. Any person violating this Act or any order or regulation deriving force from its provisions shall be be punished for each offense by a fine of not more than one hundred pesos.
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 fo 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.
SECTION 1. Except as in this Act provided, it shall be unlawful for any person in the Philippine Islands 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, fish, shellfish, or mammal, or to sell or in have in possession for sale any part of either. It shall likewise be unlawful for any person to tkae or wilfully destroy the nest or eggs of any protected bird to have such nest or eggs in his or her possession.
SEC. 2. The term "protected bird" includes insect-eating birds, song birds, and generally all wild birds except those commonly known as eagle, hawks, owls, English sparrows, candangaho or garzas pardas (brown herons) crows, galancian and mayas; but the game birds contemplated in the next succeeding section shall be deemed to be "protected," within the meaning in this Act, only during the continuance of the respective close seasons established for them.
SEC. 3. The Secretary of the Interior shall shall have authority, subject to the approval of the Governor-General to establish a close season for all or anyn of the game birdsmentioned below or any other game bird, or birds, specified by him, to wit, the goose, duck, rail, coot, mudhen, gallinule, shore bird, plover, surf bird, snipe, woodcock, sandpiper, tattler, curlew, wild chicken, pheasant, quail, wild pigeon, pigeon, doves of all classes, hornbill, mound builder, brus turkey.
He may in like many establish a close season for fish or shellfish, or for deer, musk deer, tamaraw, squirrel, lemur, or any other mammal, or mammals, specified by him, except the wild pig.
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 Philippine Islands or to any specified province or to other territorial division therein, and if realting to fish or shellfish, may be limited to a particular water or stream.
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 orer shall be posted at the main entrance of the provincial and municipal buildings and in said buildings, before its 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. A permit may be granted to the Secretary of the Interior to any person of good repute of fifteen years upward permitting the holder thereof to specimens of protected animal life, or the nests or eggs of protected birds, for 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 a scientific purpose, he shall be subject to the same penalty as if he had to permit.
SEC. 8. It shall be unlawful for any person to hunt with a firearm or to use a firearm 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 any officer or enlisted man of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, Philippine Scouts and Philippine Constabulary, two pesos, and in the case of a nonresident, twenty pesos.
SEC. 9. Hunting licenses shall be issued by the Chief of Constabulary subject to such regulations and restrictions as shall be established by him, with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Police.
SEC. 10. Members of the Philippine Constabulary and members of municipal and township police are hereby made deputy game wardens with full authority to enforce the provision 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 shut-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 nets in the case of 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 pig and the birds commonly known as eagles, hawks, garzas pardas, (brown herons) known as candangaho, owls, crows, English sparrows, galancian and mayas may be taken or killed in any season of the year; and nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit the keeping of the bird for a domestic pet or to prevent the taking edible birds nest under license duly issued.
SEC. 15. It shall be unlawful to place, cause to be placed, discharge or deposit, or to pass or place where it can pass into the water of the Philippine Islands any petroleum, acid, coal or oil-tar, lamp-black, aniline, asphalt, bitumen or residuary product of petroleum or carbonaceous material or substance, or any refuse, liquid or solid, from any oil refinery, gas house, tannery, distillery, chemical works, mill or factory of any kind, or any sawdust, slabs or factory refuse or any material substance deleterious to fish or plant life: Provided, That nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit the retting of maguey, sisal, sansevieria and its similars in the rivers and on the seashore.
SEC. 16. Actual residents of the Department of Mindanao and SUlu, and the Mountain Province, shall be permited at all times 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 contrued to permit the use of artificial lights for hunting game or birds, or to permit the sale during the close seasons of the whole or any portion of the game taken or killed in accordance with this section.
With the approval of the Governor-General, the privilege granted in the preceding paragraph may be conferred by the Secretary of the Interior upon
the residents of any township or territorial subdivision in any province.
SEC. 17. Any person violating this Act or any order or regulation deriving force from its provisions shall be be punished for each offense by a fine of not more than one hundred pesos.
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 fo 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.