Authorizing the Bureau of Land Transportation to Dispose Impounded Motor Vehicles Unclaimed for Certain Period of Time

October 7, 1980

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1729

AUTHORIZING THE BUREAU OF LAND TRANSPORTATION TO DISPOSE OF IMPOUNDED MOTOR VEHICLES UNCLAIMED BY OWNERS FOR A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME

WHEREAS, there are many motor vehicles which, for reasons of the various offenses committed by their owners, are now impounded by the Bureau of Land Transportation and considered abandoned for failure of the said owners to pay the required penalties or fines;

WHEREAS, the maintenance and security of such impounded and abandoned vehicles are causing unnecessary expenses to the Bureau, which could otherwise be channeled to and utilized for more reasonable and fruitful uses or purposes;

WHEREAS, such impounded and abandoned motor vehicles may cause unnecessary risks, harm and danger within the compound of the agency; and

WHEREAS, there is the need to orderly dispose of such impounded and abandoned vehicles at the Bureau or in any of its agencies.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree:

SECTION 1. All motor vehicles, duly impounded by the Director of Land Transportation or by his deputy or by any other authorized officer, which are unreasonably and actually abandoned by their owners for failure to pay the necessary and required fines and penalties within a period of six months from the date of apprehension, shall be sold and disposed of by the Bureau of Land Transportation in a public sale: Provided, That, in all cases before any public sale is done, the owners of the impounded and abandoned vehicles shall be given written notice and the option to redeem the said property after paying all the necessary charges within a period of fifteen (15) days from the receipt of such notice or to participate in the public bidding to be set and conducted by the Bureau. aisa dc

SECTION 2. The owner shall answer for the storage fees the amount of which is to be fixed by the Bureau and approved by the Minister of Transportation and Communications, for the services rendered in keeping the vehicles, aside from the payment of a penalty of P5.00 per day from the time the vehicle is impounded, but in no case shall the total amount exceed 1/5 of the appraised value of the vehicle.

SECTION 3. The Bureau shall fix the time and place of the public sale where all concerned and interested parties may participate in the bidding and shall cause such notice of time and place to be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation.

SECTION 4. After the public sale, the proceeds shall be applied to all liens, fines, fees, penalties and such other charges like the costs in the publication of notice: Provided, That whatever is the remainder shall be returned to the former owners.

SECTION 5. All laws, decrees, letter of instructions, orders, rules and regulations or any part thereof which are in conflict with the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SECTION 6. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 7th day of October, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 76 No. 44, 8231-94 Supp., on November 3, 1980.