Syndicated Printing, etc. of Fake Official BLT Forms, etc. as Offenses Involving Economic Sabotage

October 7, 1980

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1730

DECLARING THE SYNDICATED PRINTING, MANUFACTURE, DISTRIBUTION, POSSESSION OR USE OF FAKE OFFICIAL BUREAU OF LAND TRANSPORTATION FORMS, DOCUMENTS, PLATES AND STICKERS AS OFFENSES INVOLVING ECONOMIC SABOTAGE

WHEREAS, there is an urgent and imperative need to safeguard the interest of the general public and the government, particularly the Bureau of Land Transportation, against the syndicated or highly organized operations of unscrupulous persons engaged in the illegal printing, manufacture and/or distribution of or mere possession or use of fake Bureau of Land Transportation accountable forms and documents and motor vehicle number plates and stickers;

WHEREAS, these nefarious and illegal operations have already resulted in the loss of considerable government revenues;

WHEREAS, the commission of these offenses have placed in great disadvantage the current program of the Bureau of Land Transportation in upgrading the quality of drivers and accounting of motor vehicles operating along the public highways; and

WHEREAS, the ordinary civil courts and legal procedures are apparently hard up in coping with and containing these syndicates and/or their activities.

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. Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the illegal printing, manufacture, distribution and/or use of fake official Bureau of Land Transportation accountable forms and documents and of motor vehicle number plates and stickers shall be considered as offenses constituting economic sabotage.

SECTION 2. The trial and adjudication of these offenses are hereby declared to be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the appropriate military tribunals or commissions.

SECTION 3. 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. 79 No. 21 Page 3145 on May 23, 1983.