Pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 705, as amended, and Executive Order No. 278 dated July 25, 1987, and in order to ensure the effective implementation of the Industrial Forest Plantation Program the following provisions of DAO No. 97-04^* are hereby amended:

1. Section 7 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SECTION 7. Initial Environmental Examination.  After an IFMA has been awarded, the holder thereof shall submit an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) in accordance with Section Nos. 17 to 22, Article III, DAO No. 96-37 dated December 02, 1996 and the checklist that shall be prescribed therefor. The issuance of an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) by the Regional Executive Director (RED) concerned shall be in consonance with Section 24, Article III, DAO No. 96-37."

2. Corollary to the preceding paragraph, sub-Section 14.1 is hereby deleted.

3. Sub-Section 19.1 is likewise amended to read as follows:

"19.1 Within six (6) months from the date an IFMA is entered into, the IFMA Holder shall submit a Comprehensive Development and Management Plan (CDMP) in the form shown in Annex "E" of DAO No. 97-04 which shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary or the Undersecretary for Field Operations, as the case may be. The submission of an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) by the IFMA Holder and the issuance for Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) by the Regional Executive Director concerned are conditions precedent to the approval of the CDMP."

4. All the other provisions of DENR Administrative Order No. 97-04 not inconsistent herewith shall remain in force.

5. This Order shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

Adopted: 28 Oct. 1998

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^* See NAR 8/2, page 309