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Mustang Lumber, Inc. v. CA; DENR Sec. Factoran; SAID Chief Robles | Davide, Jr.

, J
G.R. No. 104988 | June 18, 1996

Facts: SAID organized a team of foresters and policemen to conduct surveillance in the lumberyard of
Mustang Lumber. They saw the truck of petitioner loaded with lauan and almaciga lumber of assorted
sizes and dimensions. The team seized the truck including its cargo and impounded them at the DENR
compound in Quezon City because the driver was not able to provide the required invoices. They were
not able to enter the lumberyard because of the owners refusal. The team secured a search warrant
from Judge Osorio of RTC Valenzuela. By virtue thereof, they seized truckloads of shorts, slabs and
lumber from the lumberyard of Mustang Lumber. The other remaining stockpiles were placed under
administrative seizure because the petitioner failed to produce upon demand the required legal
documents to prove the legitimacy of their source and origin.

Sec. Factoran ordered the suspension of Mustang Lumber lumber-dealer permit. He also ordered to
confiscate in favor of the government to be disposed of in accordance with law the seized lumber inside
petitioners lumberyard.

Mustang Lumber filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition against DENR Sec and SAID Chief with the
RTC questioning the seizure without any search and seizure order from the judge and the orders of the
DENR Sec. for lack of prior notice and hearing (due process).

Trial Court decision (Civil Case): The warrantless search and seizure of the petitioner's truck was valid.
Search of a moving vehicle is one of the exceptions where warrantless search and seizure is justified.
The seizure of large volume of lumber was a continuation of that made the previous day and was still
pursuant to or by virtue of the search warrant issued by Judge Osorio whose validity the petitioner did
not even question. Even if the search warrant did not specifically mention almaciga, supa, and lauan
lumber and shorts, their seizure was valid because it was contraband or prohibited articles.

Chief Robles filed with the DOJ a complaint against Ri Chuy Po, Mustang Lumbers President and General
Manager. An Information was filed by DOJ with the RTC charging Ri Chuy Po for violating Sec. 68 of PD
No. 705

Ri Chuy Po defense in Criminal Case: lumber, as opposed to timber, is not penalized in Sec. 68 of PD No.
705. Even if lumber is included, it cannot be used against him because it was seized illegally. Also, the
pending case in CA regarding the legality of the seizure raises a prejudicial question.

Prosecutions opposition: Lumber is included in Sec. 68 of PD No. 705 and possession of such without
the required documents is penalized. Also, exclusion of lumber from 68 would defeat the purpose of the
law which is to halt illegal logging

Trial Court decision (Criminal Case): Granted the motion to quash and dismissed the case on the ground
that possession of lumber without the required documents was not a crime.
People filed a petition for certiorari with the SC contending that respondent judge acted with grave
abuse of discretion when she granted the motion to quash and dismissed the case.

CA decision: Dismissed the appeal of Mustang Lumber for lack of merit and affirmed the trial courts
ruling. They were not able to show the required legal documents for the possession of lumber.
Held: The word lumber does not appear in Sec. 68 of PD No. 705 however lumber is included in the term
timber. Lumber is a processed forest raw material. The Revised Forestry Code uses the term lumber in
its common usage. Even Webster Dictionary defines lumber as a timber or logs after being prepared for
the market. Simply put lumber is a processed timber. Judge Dizon-Capulong committed grave abuse of
discretion in dismissing the criminal case

The seizure the truck and its cargo was a valid exercise of the power vested upon a forest officer or
employee by Section 80 of P.D. No. 705, as amended by P.D. No. 1775. Search of a moving vehicle is one
of the five doctrinally accepted exceptions to the constitutional mandate that no search or seizure shall
be made except by virtue of a warrant issued by a judge after personally determining the existence of
probable cause. The other exceptions are (1) search as an incident to a lawful arrest, (2) seizure of
evidence in plain view, (3) customs searches, and (4) consented warrantless search

They are presumably trifling attempts to block the serious efforts of the DENR to enforce the decree,
efforts which deserve the commendation of the public in light of the urgent need to take firm and
decisive action against despoilers of our forests whose continuous destruction only ensures to the
generations to come, if not the present, an inheritance of parched earth incapable of sustaining life. The
Government must not tire in its vigilance to protect the environment by prosecuting without fear or
favor any person who dares to violate our laws for the utilization and protection of our forests.

Dispositive portion:

WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered

1. (a) GRANTING the petition in G.R. No. 106424; (b) SETTING ASIDE and ANNULLING, for having
been rendered with grave abuse of discretion, the challenged orders of 16 August 1991 and 18
October 1991 of respondent Judge Teresita Dizon-Capulong, Branch 172, Regional Trial Court of
Valenzuela, Metro Manila, in Criminal Case No. 324-V-91, entitled People of the Philippines vs. Ri
Chuy Po; (c) REINSTATING the information in the said criminal case; and (d) DIRECTING the
respondent Judge on her successor to hear and decide the case with purposeful dispatch; and
2. DENYING the petitions in G.R. No. 104988 and in G. R. No. 123784 for utter failure of the
petitioner to show that the respondent Court of Appeals committed any reversible error in the
challenged decisions of 29 November 1991 in CA-G.R. SP No. 25510 in the FIRST CIVIL CASE and
of 31 July 1995 in CA-G.R. SP No. 33778 in the SECOND CIVIL CASE.
Costs against the petitioner in each of these three cases.

SO ORDERED.

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