Section 2. Section 5 of REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8048 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 5. Permit to Cut. — No coconut tree or trees shall be cut unless a permit therefore, upon due application being made, has been issued by the PCA pursuant to Section 6 of this Act.

"The applicant shall pay an application fee in the amount of One hundred pesos (P100.00) for every tree intended to be cut payable to the PCA. Forty pesos (P40.00) of the fee shall accrue in favor of the PCA, Forty pesos (P40.00) in favor of the municipal government concerned, and Twenty pesos (P20.00) in favor of the barangay unit concerned. The fees allocated to the PCA shall be used for its replanting program and the fees allocated to the municipal/city government shall be used for the repair and rehabilitation of roads of the respective local government units which have been damaged by the continuous passage of heavy vehicles used for transporting coconut lumber.

"Fees herein collected shall be deposited with the nearest Land Bank of the Philippines branch or other government depository banks. Fees accruing to the local government unit shall be remitted within three (3) months in accordance with existing Commission on Audit (COA) rules and regulations.

"No permit to cut shall be granted unless the applicant has secured from the barangay captain of the locality where the cutting will be done, a certification under oath that he/she has already planted the equivalent number of coconut trees applied for to be cut.

"Such replanting, however, shall not apply to areas converted into industrial, commercial or residential sites or land transformed in accordance with law, into other agricultural purposes.

"The PCA, in coordination with the local government unit concerned, shall verify if a replanting was implemented and regulate and oversee the fertilization and care of the newly planted coconut trees. For this purpose, it shall be incumbent upon the PCA to conduct, from time to time, on-the-spot inspections of the sites where the coconut trees have been planted."