Protected area law revises land classification system under the 1987 constitution

Batanes Protected Landscape and
Seascape

A major change has happened in the land classification system of the country, and many are not aware of this new modification. When the National Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992 or RA 7586 was enacted in 1992, many people did not realize that the national park as a category of land classification and as contemplated under the 1987 Constitution could encompass the sea. It was unthinkable but it was quite true. The NIPAS law did not only include terrestrial areas and wetlands, designated as protected areas, as national park, but it also incorporated all marine protected areas proclaimed under the NIPAS law. The land classification of national park under the constitution now includes land under the sea. The provision can be found in Article 2 of the NIPAS law or Rule 2 (Declaration of Policy) of the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources)  Department Administrative Order No. 2008-26.

If this provision of the NIPAS law is not rendered unconstitutional, this could represents a tremendous shift in legal and management paradigm as lawyers, foresters, geodetic engineers, land surveyors, resource managers, government officials, statisticians and other professionals will ponder with this new and expanded context of national park. In effect, this could also effectively increase the total land area of the Philippines substantially from 30 million hectares as there are at least 29 (out of 101) proclaimed protected areas across the country that fall under this category. 

Since national park refers to a forest reservation (as defined under Section 4e (Definition of terms) of the NIPAS law) or forest land, it will essentially redefine the science of forestry altogether, including the textbooks and curricula used in universities, while old forestry graduates will find themselves ill-equipped to handle marine science or management of ‘marine areas of forestry’.