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Act No. 2590

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ACT NO. 2590

ACT NO. 2590 - AN ACT FOR THE PROTECTION OF GAME AND FISH
 

Section 1. Except as in this Act provided, it shall be unlawful 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 or mammal, or to sell or have in possession for sale any part of either. It shall likewise be unlawful for any person to take or willfully destroy the nest or eggs of any protected bird or to have such nest or eggs in his or her possession except as provided in section fourteen of this Act.    

Sec. 2. The term "protected bird" includes insect-eating birds, song birds, game birds, and generally all wild birds; Provided, however, That eagles, hawks, crows, house sparrows, herons, galancians, mayas and such other species as the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may determine, may be destroyed by property owners whenever they become injurious to their property; but the game birds contemplated in the next succeeding section shall be deemed to be "protected" within the meaning of this Act, only during the continuance of the respective closed seasons established for them.

Mammals shall be deemed to be "protected" within the meaning of this Act, only during the continuance of the respective closed seasons established for them.

Sec. 3. The Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce shall have authority subject to the approval of the President of the Philippines to establish a closed season for all or any of the game birds mentioned below or any other game bird, or birds, specified by him, to wit: the Indian dwarf goose, duck, rail, coot, mudhen, gallinule, plover, surf bird, snipe, woodcock, sand-piper, tattler, curlew and other shore birds, wild chicken, pheasant, quail, wild pigeon, doves of all classes, hornbill, mound builder, brush turkey, and other game birds.

He may in like manner establish a closed season for deer, mouse deer, tamaraw, squirrel, lemur, or any other mammals, specified by him, except the wild pig which may be taken or killed as provided in section fourteen hereof.

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 Philippines or to any specified province or other territorial division therein .

For the protection and conservation of wild life and upon the recommendation of the director of the Bureau of Science, the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may set aside any area or areas of public land or public forest as game refuges and bird sanctuaries.

All national parks, botanical gardens, public parks, public schools sites, public play grounds, Government experiment and breeding stations, Government seed farms, Government stock farms, public building sites, Government nurseries, communal forests, communal pastures, cemeteries, and all public lands and forests within a radius of one kilometer from any Government rest house are declared game refuges and bird sanctuaries. It shall be unlawful for any person, to hunt, take, wound or kill, or in any manner disturb or drive away from the places mentioned above, any wild birds or animals, or take or destroy the nests or eggs of such birds in the said places.

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 order shall be posted at the main entrance of the provincial and municipal buildings and in said buildings, before it is 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. It shall be unlawful at all times for any person, to purchase offer, or expose for sale, alive or dead, any protected bird or mammal, or to sell or have in possession for sale any part of either, except Permits to that a permit may be granted by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources to any person of good repute of protected of the age of fifteen years or upward permitting the holder thereof to collect specimens of protected animal life, or the nests or eggs of protected birds, for propagating or 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 propagating or scientific purpose, he shall be subject to the same penalty as if he had no permit.

Sec. 8. It shall be unlawful for any person to hunt with a firearm or an air gun or to use a firearm or an air gun 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 an officer or enlisted man of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps, Philippine Scouts and Philippine Constabulary, two pesos and in the case of non-resident, twenty pesos.

Sec. 9. Hunting licenses shall be issued by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources or his duly authorized representative, subject to such regulations and restrictions as shall be promulgated for the purpose.

Sec. 10. Members of the Philippine Constabulary and members of the municipal and township police, foresters, rangers, forest guards of the Bureau of Forestry, Land Inspectors, Surveyors of the Bureau of Lands, Agricultural extensions agents, plant inspectors of the Bureau of Plant Industry and such other persons as may be designated in writing by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources are hereby made deputy game wardens with full authority to enforce the provisions 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 shot-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 a shotgun larger than number ten gauge or any gun other than that which can be fired from the shoulder, or by means of airplanes of any sort, or to shoot, kill or capture, any wild duck from any boat or floating device under motion, or by means of nets in case of small 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 pigs may be taken or killed in any manner at any season of the year and without license; and monkeys, wild cats and other mammals not mentioned herein may be caught or destroyed by property owners at any time that such animals cause destruction to their property; and nothing in this Act shall be construed as to prohibit the catching, taking, selling or keeping for domestic pet such birds as the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce may determine by order or to prevent the taking of edible birds' nests under license duly issued pursuant to the provisions of Act Numbered Thirty-three hundred and seventy-nine.

Sec. 15. Repealed by CA 291, section 2, enacted June 18, 1939.

Sec. 16. Members of the Non-Christian tribes in the provinces of Agusan, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Mountain Province, Palawan, and Lanao who are dependent upon the flesh of wild birds and mammals for their subsistence shall be authorized by special license; upon application addressed to the mayor of the municipality, municipal district or settlement, game warden, or such official as may be recommended to the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce by the provincial or deputy governor wherein such persons reside, as the case may be, subject to such conditions as to mode of hunting, number, species, and sex of animals and otherwise as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce or his duly authorized representative, 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 construed to permit the hunting of game birds and mammals or bird eggs within a game refuge or bird sanctuary or the use of artificial lights for hunting game or birds, or to permit the sale during the closed season of the whole or any portion of the game taken or killed in accordance with this section: Provided, That as soon as the Secretary of the Interior shall certify that the majority of the Non-Christian inhabitants of a municipality, municipal district, or settlements have sufficiently advanced in civilization, then the Secretary of Agriculture and Commerce with the approval of the President of the Philippines, may declare that the general provisions of this Act shall apply to such municipality, municipal district, or settlement wherein such Non-Christians reside.

Sec. 16(a). Any person who, during the close season, has in his possession, sells, barters, or exchanges, or offers for sale, barter or exchange, any bird, mammal or game animal protected under the provisions of this Act, shall be presumed to have taken, caught and hunted said bird or mammal in violation of the provisions of this Act and shall be subject to the penalties herein prescribed.

Sec. 16(b). For the purposes of this Act, all cold storage plants shall be required to furnish the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources or his duly authorized representative a monthly statement setting forth all wild birds and mammals deposited with them, the date of deposit and the names of the persons making the deposit.

Sec. 17. Any person violating this Act or any order or regulation deriving force from its provisions shall be punished for each offense by a fine of not less than ten pesos nor more than two hundred pesos. In case of insolvency the corresponding subsidiary imprisonment shall be suffered, and, in case of subsequent offense, the court may impose, in addition to the fine, an imprisonment not exceeding thirty days. Fifty per centum of the collected fine shall be paid to the informer specified in the judgment of the court.

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 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.
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Since 19.07.98.



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