Giving Priority to LGUs in Issuance of Salvage Permits for Timber and Other Forest Products

April 23, 1983

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 1311

GIVING PRIORITY TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS IN THE ISSUANCE OF SALVAGE PERMITS FOR TIMBER AND OTHER FOREST PRODUCTS

TO : The Minister of Natural Resources

WHEREAS, there is an urgent need to support the infrastructure projects of local governments, particularly in the construction of bridges, school houses and for KKK-supported or oriented projects; cdt

WHEREAS, in the prosecution of local government infrastructure projects, considerable volume of timber are utilized annually resulting to substantial drain in their budget which could otherwise be channeled to other productive ventures;

WHEREAS, based on inventory records of the Ministry of Natural Resources, substantial volume of timber and other forest products are laid to waste as a result of typhoons, floods and other natural calamities, including illegal cuttings made by forest occupants and timber smugglers;

WHEREAS, the salvaging and utilization of these abandoned timber and other forest products will in great measure contribute to the forest conservation effort of government, and at the same time provide the much- needed assistance to local government projects; acd

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, do hereby issue the following order:

1. In the issuance of salvage permits for timber and other forest products, the Minister of Natural Resources shall give priority to local government units, through their respective Sanggunian, to support their infrastructure projects and for KKK-supported or oriented projects.

2. Local government units desiring to avail of this privilege shall comply with the requirements and procedures as prescribed by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

This Letter of Instructions shall take effect immediately. cd

DONE in the City of Manila, this 23rd day of April, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Three.