Pursuant to the Presidential Decree 705 as amended, Presidential Decree No. 953, Executive Order No. 23 S. 2011, Executive Order No. 26 S. 2011, other relevant laws, rules and regulations, and in order to fast track the processing and issuance  of  permits  on  the  removal  or  relocation  of  trees  affected  by infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the following guidelines are hereby prescribed for compliance of all concerned.

Section 1. Scope and Coverage

This Order shall cover all applications for removal and relocation of trees for the construction of roads, bridges, flood control and other infrastructure duly certified as government projects of the DPWH.

Section 2. Application Requirements

The following requirements shall be submitted by the DPWH to the CENRO with jurisdiction over the projects, to wit:

1.    Appropriate infrastructure plan with tree charting (e.g. Road Alignment Plan, Building Plan) indicating the geotagged location of individual trees affected by the project, to be numbered sequentially, and shall be vetted by the
DPWH as basis of validation by the DENR during actual cutting operations;
2.    Appropriate Environmental Clearance (CNC/ECC);
3.    Endorsement from the concerned Local Government Units;
4.    Waiver/Consent corresponding to appropriate infrastructure plan in the case of tree cutting within private lands; and
5.    Appropriate   Land   Tenure   Instruments   CLTls)   for   tree   cutting   within forestlands.

Section 3. Guidelines in Tree Removal and Relocation.

3.1 Evaluation of the complete requirements shall be done upon receipt thereof.

Application  with  incomplete  requirements  shall  not  be  acted  upon  and returned to the applicant immediately.

The concerned CENR Office shall issue the corresponding Tree Cutting Permit and/or Earth-balling Permit (TCP/EP) within three (3) working days indicating the number of trees based on the analysis of the appropriate infrastructure plan with tree charting or if necessary, on the result of actual ocular inspection.

The CENR Office may conduct ocular inspection to verify the correctness of the submitted requirements in coordination with the DPWH before issuance of the TCP/EP on the third day as may be warranted.

3.2 Determination   of   the   number   of   trees,   location   and   its   species nomenclature/common name, classification if naturally grown or planted, and corresponding volume shall be verified and determined upon the conduct of geotagging and tree scaling by CENRO concerned during the actual tree cutting activities. These shall serve as basis for determining the tree replacement  and  schedule  of  hauling  logs  and  to  the  concerned  DENR office, computation of forest charges, among others.

3.3 Tree removal and relocation operations, including turnover and transport of logs, shall only be done under the presence and close supervision of the DENR. Correspondingly, the DPWH shall shoulder all operational costs.

Section 4. Other Considerations. The following shall be considered in the processing and issuance of tree removal and relocation permits:

4.1 In case of tree removal and relocation in public forestlands, TCP/EP applications  shall  only  be  processed  upon  issuance  of  appropriate  LTl secured by the DPWH from the concerned Regional Directors, subject to existing regulations.

4.2  To  further  facilitate  issuance  of  TCP/EPs,  concerned  DENR  Office  are required to attend consultation meetings during pre-project activities of the DPWH.

4.3 The design of the road projects should always consider the least number of trees to be affected.

Section 5. Transitory provisions. All existing reglations in earth-balling and tree replacement shall remain in force and executory.

Section 6. Repealing Clause. All circulars, orders, memoranda, and issuances inconsistent herewith shall be amended or repealed accordingly.

Section 7. Effectivity Clause. This Order shall take effect fifteen (15) days after publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation and upon submission of three (3) copies thereof to the Office of the National Administrative Register (ONAR) from the UP Law Center.

(SGD) ROY A. CIMATU
Secretary