Republic Act No. 10451

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Section 1

There is hereby established, within the territorial jurisdiction of the Province of Camarines Sur, a botanical garden to be known as the "Bikol Botanical Garden". It shall be located in a portion of Mt. Isarog Natural Park within the Municipality of Pili and occupy an area of at least twenty-five (25) hectares to be determined and delineated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and its faculties shall be built within landscaped spaces in order to create a park-like recreational environment dedicated to botanic research, experimental planting, collection of study specimen, and the teaching and dissemination of botanic knowledge.

Section 2

The Bikol Botanical Garden shall have open-air plantings, living plant collections housed in greenhouses either for conservation, teaching or seasonal public display, and herbarium houses for specimens.

To the extent practicable as space and technical requirements may allow, the Bikol Botanical Garden may have an arboretum for trees and shrubs; a bamboo setum, pinetum; medicinal plants setum; flowering and ornamental plants setum; aquatic plants setum; palm setum; fernery and orchidarium.

The facilities shall be built within a five (5)-year period, depending upon the availability of funds provided by the provincial government of Camarines Sur, national government assistance, and donations and grants from local or foreign sources.

Satellite gardens may be established elsewhere in a municipality or city within the Province of Camarines Sur, either in an urban or rural setting or both, depending upon the type of soil, topography or climatic conditions required to cultivate or maintain plants intended or suitable for such satellite gardens, and depending upon such appropriate cooperative arrangements as may be agreed upon with the other local governments within the Province of Camarines Sur.

Section 3

The buildings for its officials and staff, the library, and facilities for conferences, seminars, workshops and audio-visual presentations shall be built within a three (3)-year period.

Section 4

The Bikol Botanical Garden shall endeavor to maintain a system for the classification of plants for various utilitarian purposes; adopt a program for botanical expeditions to augment its collections; undertake studies and experiments on the commercial cultivation of otherwise wild species of certain plants, arrange for exchanges with other botanical gardens or collectors of plant samples or specimens it may have or with other plants or specimens it seeks to have; cultivate medicinal plants found in the Bicol Region or elsewhere; and establish linkages with agricultural schools and other institutions interested in botanical science.

Section 5

The provincial government of Camarines Sur shall, by purchase or expropriation or by grants from the national government or through donation from other governmental or private philanthropic sources, provide or arrange to provide the lands suitable for establishing the Bikol Botanical Garden and any satellite gardens referred to in this Act.

The provincial government of Camarines Sur shall provide the necessary capital outlays and operating expenses required to maintain the botanical garden to be established under this Act.

Section 6

In the implementation of this Act, the DENR and other agencies of the national government shall extend technical assistance to the provincial government of Camarines Sur.

Section 7

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved,

(Sgd.) JUAN PONCE ENRILE President of the Senate	(Sgd.) FELICIANO BELMONTE JR. Speaker of the House of Representatives

This Act which originated in the House of Representatives was finally passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on February 14, 2011 and January 21, 2013, respectively.

(Sgd.) EMMA LIRIO-REYES Secretary of Senate	(Sgd.) MARILYN B. BARUA-YAP Secretary General House of Representatives

Approved: APR 08 2013

(Sgd.) BENIGNO S. AQUINO III President of the Philippines