Act No. 2159, enacted on February 6, 1912, regulates motor vehicle traffic in the Philippines, outlining requirements for vehicle registration, operator licensing, and safety measures such as the necessity for all vehicles on highways to carry lights. It defines key terms related to motor vehicles, highways, operators, and dealers, and mandates that no vehicle may be operated without proper registration and a licensed driver. The Act also establishes penalties for various violations, including operating without a license and reckless driving. Overall, it aims to ensure public safety on the roads and streamline the regulatory framework for motor vehicles in the country.
February 6, 1912
ACT NO. 2159
AN ACT TO REGULATE MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, TO PROVIDE FOR THE REGISTRATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES AND THE LICENSING OF OPERATORS, AND TO REQUIRE ALL VEHICLES ON HIGHWAYS TO CARRY LIGHTS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
SECTION 1. For the purposes of this Act:
(a) "Motor vehicles" are all vehicles propelled by any power other than muscular power, except traction engines, road rollers, street sweepers and sprinklers, lawn mowers, and vehicles which run only on rails or tracks.
(b) "Highways" includes every highways open to public thoroughfare, every public boulevard, driveway, avenue, park, parkway, plaza, square, place, street, road, alley, and "callejon."
(c) "Chauffeur" includes every person operating a motor vehicle for amusement or as a mechanic or employee for hire.
(d) "Operating" and the other inflections of that verb signify running, driving, guiding, controlling, or conducting a motor vehicle.
(e) "Operator" includes every person operating a motor vehicle whether he be not licensed to do so.
(f) "Owner" includes, when the context requires it, in addition to the actual legal owner of a motor vehicle, also every person for the time being in legal possession of such vehicle and lawfully entitled to give commands and directions with regard to the same, but not a person who has rented or hired such motor vehicle from a garage. In so far as concerns publicly owned motor vehicles the "owner," in the contemplation of this Act, is the head of the office or the chief of the bureau to which the motor vehicle belongs except when the context of the language requires a different interpretation.
(g) "Dealer" includes every person making, manufacturing, constructing, assembling, or setting up motor vehicles in these Islands for sale; every person acting as agent for the sale of one or more makes, styles, or kinds of motor vehicles, and every person dealing in motor vehicles, keeping the same in stock, or displaying or handling the same with a view of trading in or selling the same, and every person having, owning, controlling, or keeping motor vehicles to let or for hire to the public.
(h) "Dealer's certificate" means a certificate of registration issued to a dealer as defined in the last preceding subsection.
(i) "Garage" includes every place where motor vehicles belonging to persons other than the owner of such garage are housed, stored, kept, or repaired for payment, and every place where motor vehicles are housed, stored, or kept to let or for hire to the public.
(j) "Proprietor of a garage" includes every proprietor and owner of a garage as defined in the last preceding subsection, and every person in control or charge of such garage in his own behalf or in behalf of the owner or proprietor.
(k) "Intersection" includes every part of a public highway which joins another at an angle, whether or not it crosses the other.
(l) "Horn" shall include every other signaling device by sound.
SECTION 2. No motor vehicle shall be used or operated in, along, or upon any highway of the Philippine Islands unless the same has been registered in accordance with the provisions of this Act, nor by any person who has not been licensed to operate such motor vehicle under the provisions of this Act.
Motor vehicles belonging to the Government of the United States, the Government of the Philippine Islands or any of its subdivisions, or to any provincial, city, or municipal government shall be regarded as registered under the provisions of this Act if they bear signs or legends plainly indicating to what department, bureau, or political subdivision the same belong and the number plates required by section seven hereof, which number plates shall be issued free by the Director of Public Works. cTDaEH
SECTION 3. Every person who owns or possesses a motor vehicle shall within sixty days after the date on which this Act becomes effective file in the office of the Director of Public Works or in the office of the district engineer for each motor vehicle owned or possessed by him a statement of his name, place of residence and address, a brief description of each motor vehicle including the name, style, or type thereof, the name or title of the maker, the number, if any, stamped upon or affixed by the makers to the same, the number of wheels, the characters of the motive power, and the amount thereof stated in figured of horsepower, and such other information including the number and date of his cedula and the place where the same was issued, as the Director of Public Works may require. Such statement shall be regarded as an application for the official registration of such motor vehicle.
Every person acquiring a motor vehicle not registered under the provisions of this Act after the same is effective shall file a like statement within thirty-six hours after he has acquired such motor vehicle.
SECTION 4. Each such application shall be accompanied by a fee of ten pesos for each motor vehicle having more than three wheels, or by a fee of five pesos for every other such vehicle.
SECTION 5. Upon the receipt of such application and fee the Director of Public Works shall cause the same to be registered or recorded in a book to be kept by him for that purpose, which shall be known as the "Motor Vehicle Register," and in which such information shall be set forth as will enable the vehicle and the owner thereof to be identified. The Director of Public Works shall issue to the applicant a numbered certificate of registration, in duplicate, for each separate vehicle and shall enter the number of such certificate in the "Motor Vehicle Register."
SECTION 6. Each such certificate of registration shall contain, in addition to its number, the date of registration and all the information required to be set forth in the application and shall follow the motor vehicle of the registration of which it is evidence into the hands of subsequent owners while the registration of such motor vehicle is in force.
SECTION 7. The Director of Public Works shall further issue for each motor vehicle having more than three wheels duplicate number plates bearing a distinctive number so that the same will serve to identify the vehicle, and for every other motor vehicle one such number plate.
SECTION 8. All number plates shall be of such color, size, and design ass may be selected and determined by the Director of Public Works and shall contain in Arabic numerals of a length of not less than one decimeter and each stroke of which shall be not less than one centimeter in thickness, the number assigned by the Director of Public Works.
SECTION 9. Every motor vehicle of more than three wheels shall at all times when in use bear in a conspicuous place on the front of such vehicle one of the number plates issued for such vehicle, and in a conspicuous place in the rear thereof the other such number plate. And every other motor vehicle shall bear the number plate issued for it in a conspicuous place in the rear thereof. Such number plates shall be firmly affixed so that the same will not swing and shall be kept clean and cared for so that the number thereon may at all times be visible and legible whether the motor vehicle is in motion or not. cSaATC
SECTION 10. Whenever any motor vehicle is sold or any change in the ownership thereof takes place it is hereby made the duty of the former owner thereof to notify the Director of Public Works in writing of such change, giving the name, residence, and address of such purchaser or new owner, the number of the certificate of registration issued to cover the vehicle, and the number borne on the number plate or plates issued for such vehicle. Such notification shall be accompanied by a fee of fifty centavos, and the Director of Public Works shall cause the name, residence, and address of such purchaser or new owner to be recorded in the Motor Vehicle Register in such a manner that the owner of any motor vehicle may at may time readily be ascertained therefrom. Any statement indorsed on the back of a certificate of registration issued under this Act shall be sufficient evidence, for the purposes of this Act, of the ownership of the purchaser or transferee named in such statement, if the same be signed by the person in whose name the certificate was issued and complies substantially with the following form:
"Date ____________
"I have this day transferred my ownership of the motor vehicle, described on the face hereof to ______________________ of ____________________.
"______________________"
If the person selling or disposing of his motor vehicle desires to retain the number issued for the same he shall so notify the Director of Public Works and the person purchasing the same or acquiring ownership therein shall obtain from the Director of Public Works new number plates upon payment of the fee fixed in the next succeeding section.
SECTION 11. Upon proof satisfactory to the Director of Public Works that any certificate or registration or number plate issued under the provisions of this Act has been lost or destroyed he shall issue a duplicate to the owner of such motor vehicle after payment of one peso for each certificate and each number plate issued.
SECTION 12. Every dealer in motor vehicle may, instead of registering separately each such vehicle owned or controlled and used and operated in his business by him or by his employee or agents, make, before the first day of January of each year, application for a general certificate of registration and a general distinguishing number or mark. Such application shall contain whatever information may be required by the Director of Public Works. The Director of Public Works, if satisfied with the statements in such application, may grant to the applicant one general certificate of registration in quadruplicate, showing the name, residence, place of business, and address of the applicant, and that the same is a dealer in motor vehicles within the meaning of this Act. Such dealer's certificate shall further show the general distinguishing number or mark assigned, the kind, type style, or make of motor vehicles manufactured, sold or kept, or handled for sale by him, and such other information as the Director of Public Works may deem expedient. The general distinguishing number or mark shall be issued in quadruplicate. All motor vehicles manufactured, owned, controlled or kept or handled for sale by such applicant shall thereafter be regarded as registered under such general distinguishing number or mark, except those for his private use, each of which shall be separately registered under sections three, four, five, and six of this Act. The fee for registration of a dealer in motor vehicles shall be twenty pesos. CHTAIc
SECTION 13. Upon proof of loss of a certificate issued to a dealer, a duplicate certificate may be issued to him under like conditions and after payment of like fees as those set forth in section eleven of this Act and upon the request of such dealer further duplicate distinguishing numbers or marks may be issued to him after the fee fixed in section eleven of this Act for each such duplicate has been paid.
SECTION 14. The Director of Public Works shall cause to be prepared a form, which shall be furnished free of charge upon request, and upon which every person who desires hereafter to operate any motor vehicle as a chauffeur shall answer under oath all questions asked and give all information required by the Director of Public Works, including his true name, address and age, the number, date, and place of issue of his cedula, and the names, kinds, types, or styles of motor vehicles which he is competent to operate, together with the form and amount of their motive power, and whether his senses of sight and hearing are normal.
The Director of Public Works is hereby authorized in his discretion to require an applicant for a license as chauffeur to answer such further questions or to submit to such an examination touching his qualifications as chauffeur, as in the Director of Public Works' judgment will best disclose the applicant's fitness and competency to operate motor vehicles.
If after such examination or without the same the Director of Public Works believes the applicant to possess the necessary qualifications and knowledge, he shall, upon the receipt of a fee of two pesos, issue to such applicant a license to operate as a chauffeur motor vehicles of the kind, style, type, or make and power described in the application until the first day of January next following or until such license is revoked. But, if the said Director does not believe the applicant to be a person qualified to operate motor vehicles he shall not issue a license as chauffeur to such applicant, in which event the applicant's fee shall be returned to him.
Every license issued to operate a motor vehicle shall have a line or place for the signature of the licensee, and no license shall be effective as an authorization to the person to whom issued to operate a motor vehicle until after such person has written his usual signature in the place provided for that purpose.
SECTION 15. The Director of Public Works is further authorized to issue temporary permits to person who are learning to operate motor vehicles upon the payment of a fee of fifty centavos. No such permit shall, however, be issued for a longer period than three months, and no such permit shall authorize the person to whom the same is issued to operate a motor vehicle on any public highway unless accompanied as instructor by some person under this Act licensed to operate such motor vehicle. For any violation of the provisions of this Act and for any injury or damage done by a motor vehicle, or on account, or as a result of the operation of a motor vehicle operated by a beginner who is accompanied by an instructor, the instructor shall be liable.
SECTION 16. Persons who have procured the registration of one or more motor vehicles owned by them shall, if they desire themselves to operate such vehicles, make like application as provided in section fifteen, and, under like conditions as those therein prescribed and upon the payment of a like fee, the Director of Public Works shall issue to such owners licenses to operate motor vehicles.
SECTION 17. No license, whether to owners of motor vehicles or to chauffeurs, to operate motor vehicles or vehicles within the purview of section fourteen of this Act shall be issued to any person under eighteen years of age, and no person under eighteen years of age shall be permitted to operate a motor vehicle upon any highway of the Philippine Islands.
SECTION 18. The Director of Public Works shall cause to be prepared and kept in his office in Manila a register in which shall be recorded every license issued to an owner or to a chauffeur, with such information, including names, addressed, and ages of the licensees, and the dates on which their respective licenses were issued, as he may deem to be useful and expedient. He shall likewise carefully file away and preserve all applications for such licenses, in chronological, alphabetical, or numerical order so that any one of them may be promptly made accessible. EATCcI
SECTION 19. No owner, dealer, proprietor of garage, chief of bureau, or head of office is permitted to engage, employ, or hire any person to operate a motor vehicle unless the person whose employment, engagement, or hire is contemplated is a licensed chauffeur. All persons violating this provision shall upon conviction be fined not less than five nor more than one hundred pesos: Provided, However, That if the person convicted of a violation of this provision is engaged in letting or renting motor vehicles to other persons or to the public for hire, such person may be further punished by imprisonment of not less than six months nor more than one year in addition to the fine aforesaid.
SECTION 20. The Director of Public Works or his representatives are hereby authorized at any time to examine and inspect any motor vehicle, in order to determine whether the same is unsafe, improperly equipped, or otherwise unfit to be operated because of possible danger to the chauffeur, to the passenger, or to the public. If the Director of Public Works finds any such vehicle to be unsafe as aforesaid, he may refuse to register the same, or if the same be registered he may revoke such registration or suspend the force and operation thereof, until the defects, improper equipment, or other cause of insecurity or danger has been remedied. The Director of Public Works' action under this section shall be communicated in writing to the owner of the vehicle, and if the vehicle be property of the Government or any of its political subdivisions to the chief of the bureau or office to which the vehicle in question belongs. Any owner, or other person in control or possession of such vehicle, and every chief of bureau or office, in the case of a vehicle owned by the Government or any of its political subdivisions, who operates, or who permits the same to be operated upon a highway after such notice, and any chauffeur, who operates the same upon a highway knowing the registration of such vehicle to have been suspended or revoked, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five pesos nor more than one hundred pesos.
If, after the suspension or revocation of the registration of a motor vehicle, any person is injured, or damage is caused as a result of the operation of such motor vehicle, the owner of such vehicle or the person having control and authority over such vehicle, shall be guilty of the offense described in the first paragraph of article five hundred and sixty-eight of the Penal Code and shall be subject to the penalties therein prescribed.
SECTION 21. Every dealer in motor vehicles, and every proprietor of a garage shall keep, or cause to be kept, in a book having blank columns, headings, and spaces, to be prescribed by the Director of Public Works, a correct, exact, and legible record in ink of every motor vehicle which leaves his place of business or garage, showing the exact time of the vehicle's departure and return, the name of the chauffeur operating it, the name of the person to whom the same is rented, loaned, let, or hired, and such other information as the Director of Public Works may require. Such book shall be in convenient place in said place of business or garage and shall at all times while such place of business or garage is not closed be open to examination by the Director of Public Works or his agents and any police officer of the city or municipality within which the garage is situated.
Failure to provide such book or to keep correct and exact records therein as required in this section shall upon conviction subject the offender to a penalty of not less than five nor more than one hundred pesos. Upon a second conviction of such offense the Director of Public Works shall revoke the license of such offender.
SECTION 22. No owner or other person in whose name one or more motor vehicles have been registered under this Act shall lend to any other person any such certificate of registration or any number plate or other mark, nor give away or sell such certificate, number plate, or other mark, except upon the transfer or change of ownership or possession of the motor vehicle which is registered in such certificate, or for which such number plate or other mark was issued, and no person shall borrow such certificate, number plate, or other mark nor buy or purchase the same except upon like transfer of ownership of a motor vehicle as above contemplated. No person to whom a license or permit to operate a motor vehicle has been issued under this Act shall lend, sell, or give away, and no person shall borrow, buy, or purchase such license or permit. No person shall make use of any certificate or registration, number plate, mark, permit, or license issued under this Act to or in favor of any other person or for any motor vehicle not owned or not in lawful possession of the person using such certificate, number plate, or mark.
Every person violating the foregoing provisions of this section, and every person found guilty of stealing any certificate, number plate, mark, permit, or license issued under this Act, or taking and carrying away the same without the knowledge of the person lawfully entitled thereto or against the will of such person shall be punished by a fine of not less than five nor more than two hundred pesos or imprisonment of not less than one nor more than six months.
SECTION 23. Every person using for any purpose of deceit or evasion a number plate or mark not issued under authority of this Act, or affixing such number plate or mark to a motor vehicle for the purpose or with the intent of using the same as and for a plate or mark lawfully issued hereunder, and every person using a number plate or mark lawfully issued hereunder for a motor vehicle other than the one for which such plate or mark was issued shall be subject to a like penalty as that fixed in section twenty-one of this Act. DHITCc
SECTION 24. No person shall operate a motor vehicle or any highway in these Islands recklessly or at a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper, having regard to the width, traffic, grades, crossings, curvatures, and other conditions of the highway and to the conditions of the atmosphere and weather, or so as to endanger the property or the safety or rights of any person or so as to cause excessive or unreasonable damages to the highway.
No person shall unreasonably obstruct or impede the passage or right of travel of any motor vehicle or operator thereof and no operator shall unreasonably obstruct the passage of any other vehicle or person on any highway. Every person found guilty of violating the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than five nor more than fifty pesos or by imprisonment of not more than six months or by both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION 25. Every person operating a motor vehicle on a highway shall turn to the left when meeting persons or vehicles coming toward him, and to the right when overtaking persons or vehicles going in the same direction, unless a different course of action is required in the interests of the safety and security of life, person, or property.
When turning to the right in going from one highway into another every motor vehicle shall be conducted to the left of the center of the intersection of the highway, thus:
SECTION 26. No person is permitted to operate a motor vehicle upon or along any sidewalk, walk, path, alley, or other part or section of a highway set aside or reserved for pedestrians or foot passengers. Every violation of this section shall subject the offender to a fine of not more than ten pesos.
SECTION 27. Every person operating a motor vehicle upon a highway while under the influence of liquor shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than two hundred and fifty pesos or by imprisonment of not less than fifteen days nor more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
SECTION 28. In the event that any accident should occur as a result of the operation of a motor vehicle upon a highway the operator is required to come to a stop immediately and if requested by any person present to give his true name and address and also the true name and address of the owner of the motor vehicle, and the driver of any other vehicle concerned in the accident shall also be required to come to a stop and give his name and address and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle if requested, and all other persons present or witnessing the accident shall give their names and addresses if requested. Every person violating this provision shall upon conviction be punished by a fine not less than five nor more than two hundred pesos or by imprisonment of not less than five days nor more than three months or by both such fine and imprisonment. CAacTH
SECTION 29. Every motor vehicle operated on any public highway shall be provided with brakes adequate and efficient at all times and with a horn or other signaling device approved by the Director of Public Works.
SECTION 30. Whenever it is necessary for the safety of the public or traffic every operator shall sound his horn as a warning and also before coming to crossings or intersections of public highways.
SECTION 31. When meeting or overtaking persons or vehicles every operator of a motor vehicle shall give timely notice and warning of his proximity by sounding his horn. Such warning should be sounded when the operator, having regard to the speed at which he is traveling, is still a safe distance from the person or vehicle about to be met or overtaken and before the motor vehicle has drawn opposite to or abreast of such person or vehicle, the intent of this provision being the requirement of a warning within such a distance that the same will be clearly heard and not within such a short distance that, owing to its nearness and suddenness, it is likely to cause fright or to startle the person, horse, or other animal which is being met or overtaken.
SECTION 32. Every motor vehicle of more than three wheels in use on any public highway, whether in motion or not, shall bear two lamps in front, one on each side, which, not later than one-half hour after sunset and until at least one-half hour before sunrise, shall be lighted. The lights on a level shall be visible for a distance of not less than three hundred feet ahead and the light thrown forward or ahead of the motor vehicle shall be white light. Additional lamps and lights may be carried; but if one additional lamp is carried it shall be affixed midway between the two lamps hereinbefore required. If two additional lamps are carried and one of them is lighted the other shall also be lighted. The lighting of only one of a pair of additional lamps while the motor vehicle is operated upon a public highway is prohibited.
Each such vehicle shall further, during the hours aforesaid, bear in the rear a lamp throwing a white light upon the number plate or other distinguishing mark issued for each vehicle and a red light to the rear. The hours herein fixed within which such lamps shall burn shall not exempt operators from the obligation of lighting such lamps or causing the same to be lighted at earlier or later hours or times when, on account of atmospheric or weather conditions or other phenomena, the use of such motor vehicles upon public highways might otherwise be dangerous or unsafe. Motor vehicles of less than four wheels shall, during the hours herein fixed, bear in front a lamp throwing a white light ahead.
Every other vehicle, of whatever style, kind, make, character, or nature, having more than two wheels, when upon a highway during the hours aforesaid, whether in motion or not, shall bear one or more lights so arranged that the same shall be visible from in front and from the rear of such vehicle. cEaSHC
SECTION 33. Every person operating a motor vehicle upon a public highway shall on signal by raising the hand, or on request, or call, or cry from any person, riding, driving, or leading a horse or other animal thereon, bring such motor vehicle immediately to a stop, and, if traveling in an opposite direction, remain stationary so long as may be necessary to allow such horse or animal to pass, and, if traveling in the same direction, use reasonable caution in passing such horse or other animal. And if such horse or other animal appears to be badly frightened, the operator shall cause the motor of his vehicle to cease running so long as may be reasonably necessary to prevent accident and insure the safety of others and shall render assistance, if requested, to enable the person in charge of such horses or animals to pass with them. In approaching or passing a car of a street or other railway which is stopping to allow passengers to alight or embark, the operator of every motor vehicle shall slow down and, if necessary for the safety of the public, come to a full stop. No person shall unreasonably or maliciously call upon the operator of a motor vehicle to stop.
SECTION 34. The provisions of section twenty-four, twenty-eight, and thirty-three of this Act shall not be applicable to ambulances nor to police patrol wagons, nor to five wagons and engines. This exemption is not, however, to be construed to authorize or condone uselessly or unnecessarily reckless or fast operation of any of the motor vehicles mentioned in this section, nor to exempt from liability any operator of such motor vehicle for uselessly or unnecessarily fast or reckless operation.
SECTION 35. All motor power shall be stopped in every motor vehicle whenever the same is unattended on any highway. Whenever a motor vehicle passes through thickly, populated districts of any municipality or barrio or through the streets of any city the "muffler," if the vehicle be propelled by a gasoline motor shall not be cut out or disconnected and no unnecessary noises of any kind shall be given off, emitted, caused, or made by any motor vehicle at the times or in the places in this section described.
SECTION 36. No smoke shall be given off or emitted by any motor vehicle in unreasonable or annoying quantities while the same is in or is passing through the streets of any city of the thickly inhabited portions of any municipality or barrio in the Philippine Islands, or in any other place where the same shall constitute a nuisance.
SECTION 37. No person shall operate, use, play, tamper, or interfere with a motor vehicle without the permission of the owner. No chauffeur shall use of operate a motor vehicle owned by the person by whom such chauffeur is employed without proper authority.
SECTION 38. No person shall knowingly drop, place, scatter, or throw, or cause to be dropped, placed, scattered, or thrown upon any highway any tacks, nails, wire, scrap metal, glass, crockery, or any other substance or thing injurious to the feet of persons or animals, or to the tires of wheels of vehicles or motor vehicles.
SECTION 39. The Director of Public Works is hereby authorized from time to time, in his discretion, to prohibit the sale in or importation into the Philippine Islands of such style, kind, or makes of tires as in his judgment tend seriously to cut up or otherwise injure or damage public highways. Within thirty days after the publication of this law the Director of Public Works shall send to every dealer in motor vehicles in the Philippine Islands a list and description of the prohibited types and kinds of tires, and from time to time thereafter as such other types and kinds shall be found to be injurious to the roads. Any dealer in tires who, after receiving such notice, sells any of the prohibited kind shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished as provided in the next succeeding section.
It shall be the duty of the Director of Public Works to publish from time to time a list and description of the prohibited kind and types of tires, and thereafter every owner or dealer using or permitting the use of such tire or tires on his motor vehicle or vehicles shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and punished as provided in the next succeeding section.
SECTION 40. Every person who refuses, after requested by the Director of Public Works or his authorized agents, or by any police officer, to show the license or permit issued to such person to operate a motor vehicle knowing the official character of the person making such request, and every person found guilty of a violation of sections twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, or thirty-nine of this Act shall be punished by a fine of not less than five pesos nor more than two hundred pesos.
SECTION 41. The conviction of any person of any offense under this Act shall not bar prosecution and conviction of other offenses in this Act or elsewhere defined and penalized which may have been committed by such person concurrently with the commission of the offense of which he was convicted or in doing the act or series of acts which constituted the offense of which he was convicted. CTIEac
SECTION 42. Whenever any owner or chauffeur has been convicted of a violation of the offenses described in sections twenty-two, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, thirty-two, thirty-three, and forty-eight of this Act the license of such owner or chauffeur to operate motor vehicles may in the discretion of the Director of Public Works be revoked by him and he may refuse thereafter to issue to such person a license to operate a motor vehicle for a period not exceeding two years.
SECTION 43. Whenever any owner or chauffeur has been three times convicted of the violation of any one or more provisions of this Act, or of any regulations lawfully issued or prescribed by the Director of Public Works under authority of this Act such third conviction shall ipso facto revoke the license of the person convicted and he shall for two years thereafter be ineligible to be licensed to operate a motor vehicle in the Philippine Islands.
SECTION 44. It is hereby made the duty of every clerk of Court of First Instance in these Islands to certify to the Director of Public Works at Manila every conviction of any persons of any and every violation of this Act which may have taken place in such court, giving the name of the person so convicted, his residence and address, the number of his license or of the certificate of his motor vehicle, and the date thereof, and briefly the offense of which he was convicted. Similarly it shall be the duty of every such clerk to certify the fact of every judgment for damages or injury found against any owner or chauffeur and based upon any of the provisions of this Act whether penal in their nature or merely declaratory of the law of the road. Like certifications shall also be made to the Director of Public Works by justices of the peace in these Islands, or by the judges of any municipal courts vested with jurisdiction to try such cases, of similar convictions or judgments found by such justices of the peace or municipal judges. For certifying such convictions or judgments no fee shall be demanded or paid.
SECTION 45. Public notice shall be given each week by publication in the Official Gazette of the certificates, permits, and licenses issued, suspended, or revoked and of motor vehicles transferred during such week under the provisions of this Act. Such public notice shall state the name and address of the owner of the certificate, permit, or license, the number thereof, the date of issue, the number shown on the number plates in proper instances, the date of suspension or revocation with the cause thereof, and the period of suspension, if the act made public is a suspension, and such further information as will, by being made publicly known, tend to and assist in the efficient enforcement of the provisions of this Act.
SECTION 46. All the applications, certificates, permits, licenses, transfers, convictions, notifications, suspensions, revocations, and other documents or records herein contemplated shall be arranged, noted, compiled, entered, or recorded as the Director of Public Works shall prescribe with a view of making and keeping the same and each and all of them as accessible as possible to and for persons and officers properly interested in the same. To this end the Director of Public Works is authorized to prescribe and provide for such index, file, and other systems as will best accomplish the desired result, and to issue such reasonable regulations governing the search and examination of the documents and records above mentioned as will be consistent with their availability to the public and their safe and secure preservation.
SECTION 47. The Director of Public Works is hereby authorized to designate as his agents and deputies district engineers or provincial or municipal treasurers at such places and offices as he may deem expedient to assist in carrying out the provisions of this Act. And each and every district engineer or provincial or municipal treasurer so designated is hereby vested with all the power and authority which is conferred upon the Director of Public Works by this Act except that contemplated in sections eight, twenty-nine, thirty-nine, forty-two, forty-five, and forty-six. And the Director of Public Works is hereby authorized and empowered to formulate and issue administrative rules and regulations as may be found necessary to govern his agents and deputies and to give full effect to the provisions of this Act with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Police.
SECTION 48. Every person who falsely or fraudulently represents himself to be the person named in a license to operate motor vehicles issued under this Act; every person knowingly using or attempting to use a license falsely and fraudulently purporting to be issued under this Act; every person falsely and fraudulently making, issuing, or preparing any license or certificate in imitation or similitude of licenses or certificates issued under this Act; every person falsely or fraudulently making or preparing a certificate or license not in imitation or similitude of certificates or licenses issued under this Act and using or intending to use the same as and for a legal certificate or license, or with intent to sell or otherwise dispose of the same to another; every person falsely or fraudulently representing as valid and in force any certificate or license issued under this Act which has been revoked or the operation and force of which has been suspended, and using or attempting to use the same or disposing or intending to dispose of the same to another as and for a certificate or license in full and legal force and effect; every person who knowingly and with intent to deceive makes one or more false or fraudulent statements in an application for a license under this Act to operate motor vehicles or in an application for the registration of motor vehicles; and every person who in any manner falsely or fraudulently represents himself to be a licensed operator of motor vehicles, shall upon conviction be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five pesos nor more than two hundred pesos or by imprisonment of not more than two years. SaCIDT
SECTION 49. A permanent reimbursable appropriation of three thousand pesos is hereby created out of any funds in the Insular Treasury not otherwise appropriated to carry out the provisions of this Act.
SECTION 50. The Director of Public Works is hereby authorized, subject to the Civil Service Act and Rules, to appoint and employ such officers, clerks, and other employees, and to purchase or cause to be made or purchased such motor vehicles, supplies, forms, equipment, stationery, books, and other property, as may be necessary to carry out the provisions and purposes of this Act, and to rent motor vehicles if necessary.
SECTION 51. The provisions of this Act control, as far as they apply, the registration and operation of motor vehicles, and the licensing of owners, dealers, and chauffeurs, and the carrying of lights on all vehicles. All Acts or parts of Acts contrary to the provisions of this Act, and all ordinances, resolutions, regulations, restrictions, or other provisions of any city, municipality, board, authority, or person in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby declared to be and are superseded and repealed from the date on which this Act becomes effective. The certificate of registration issued under the provisions of this Act for any motor vehicle shall, while the same is effective and has not been suspended or revoked, authorize such motor vehicles to be used and operated in any province, city, or municipality of the Philippine Islands. Every license issued under the provisions of this Act to any operator shall entitle the person to whom issued, while the same is effective and has not been suspended or revoked, to operate the motor vehicles described in such license in any province, city, or municipality of the Philippine Islands. No further fees than those fixed in this Act shall be exacted or demanded by any public authority of these Islands for the operation or use of any motor vehicle or for the exercise of the occupation of chauffeur, or for the operation of any motor vehicle by the owner thereof: Provided, However, That nothing in this Act shall be construed to exempt any motor vehicle from the payment of any lawful tax imposed thereupon: And Provided Further, That municipal councils are authorized and empowered to prescribe reasonable regulations not inconsistent with this Act for the conduct, control, and operation of garages, and to determine where motor vehicles for public hire may occupy, while not in use, the public streets or places.
SECTION 52. This Act shall become effective sixty days after its passage.
ENACTED, February 6, 1912.
An Act to Regulate Motor Vehicle Traffic in the Philippine Islands, to Provide for the Registration of Motor Vehicles and the Licensing of Operators, and to Require all Vehicles on Highways to Carry Lights, and for Other Purposes, Act No. 2159, Feb 6, 1912 (Philippines)
An Act to Regulate Motor Vehicle Traffic in the Philippine Islands, to Provide for the Registration of Motor Vehicles and the Licensing of Operators, and to Require all Vehicles on Highways to Carry Lights, and for Other Purposes, Act No. 2159 (Phil. 1912)
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