REPUBLIC ACT No. 2363

An Act to Amend Further Act Numbered Thirty-Nine Hundred and Ninety-Two, Otherwise Known as the Revised Motor Vehicles Law, as Amended

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled:

Section 1. Paragraph (b) of section five of Act Numbered Thirty-nine hundred ninety-two, otherwise known as the Revised Motor Vehicles Law, as amended, is further amended, to read as follows:

"(b) Any registration of motor vehicles not renewed on or before the date fixed for different classifications as provided hereunder shall become delinquent and invalid:

1. For hire motor vehicles—on or before the last working day of February

2. Privately owned motor vehicles—on or before the last working day of March

3. All other motor vehicles—on or before the last working day of April

except when the plates of such motor vehicles are returned to the Motor Vehicles Office in Manila, or to the Office of the Motor Vehicle Registrar in the provincial or city agencies of the Motor Vehicles Office on or before the last working day of December of the year of issue."

Section 2. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of section eight of the same Act, as amended, are further amended to read as follows:

"(b) Private automobiles with pneumatic rubber tires, an amount based on their respective shipping weight or factory weight as indicated in the following schedule:

1000 kilos or less ₱75.00

1001 to 1500 kilos 100.00

1501 to 2000 kilos 135.00

2001 and above 180.00

"The factory or shipping weight of a private automobile shall be obtained from the Red Book edited by the National Market Report, Inc., of the United States of America: Provided, That in the case of automobiles with altered, changed or rebuilt bodies, the weight as obtained by actual weighing shall be considered the vehicle weight: Provided further, That the increased registration fees herein prescribed shall not apply to jeeps and jeepneys for private use or for hire and the fees thereof shall be those prescribed for them before the approval of this Act.

"The registered passenger capacity of passenger automobiles operated for hire or for private use shall be determined as follows:

"1. For each adult passenger, not less than a horizontal rectangular area, including seat and foot space, 40 cm. wide and 60 cm. long, except in the front seat which shall allow 50 cm. wide for the operator.

"2. For each half-passenger, not less than a horizontal rectangular area, including seat and foot space, 20 cm. wide by 60 cm. long, provided that each continuous row of seats shall not be allowed more than one-half passenger.

"(c) Private motor trucks, passenger buses and trailers with pneumatic rubber tires, the sum of five pesos per hundred kilograms of maximum allowable gross weight or fraction thereof."

Section 3. Section seventeen of the same Act, as amended, is further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 17. Number plate, preparation and issuance of. -(a) The Chief of the Motor Vehicles Office shall cause number plates to be prepared and issued to owners of motor vehicles and trailers registered under this Act, charging a fee of one peso for each complete plate including the numerals indicating the year of registry: Provided, However, That in case no number plates are available, the Chief of the Motor Vehicles Office or his deputies may issue, without charge, a written permit temporarily authorizing the operation of any motor vehicles with other means of identification: Provided, further, That all motor vehicles exempted from payment of registration fees, motor vehicles for hire, and privately owned motor vehicles, shall bear plates so designed and painted with different colors to distinguish one class from the other: Provided, still further, That the plates of motor vehicles exempted from payment of registration fees shall be permanently assigned to such motor vehicles during their entire lifetime while exempted from payment of fees: And Provided, finally, That the owner thereof shall return such plate to the Chief of the Motor Vehicles Office within a period of seven working days after such owner has lost his exemption privilege or has transferred the vehicle to a non-exempt owner.

"(b) In case the design of the number plate is such that the numerals indicating the year of registry are in a detachable tag, the Chief, Motor Vehicles Office or his deputies may, in their discretion, issue the said tag only, for subsequent re-registration, charging a fee of fifty centavos for each tag issued."

Section 4. Section twenty-four of the same Act, as amended, is further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 24. Driver’s license, fees, examination. -Every person who desires personally to operate any motor vehicle shall make application to the Chief, Motor Vehicles Office or his deputies for a license to drive motor vehicles: Provided, However, That no person shall be issued a professional chauffeur’s license who is suffering from highly contagious diseases, such as, advanced tuberculosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, and the like.1aшphi1

"Each such application except in the case of enlisted men operating Government owned vehicles shall be accompanied by a fee of five pesos, and shall contain such information respecting the applicant and his ability to operate motor vehicles, as may be required by the Chief, Motor Vehicles Office.

"The Chief, Motor Vehicles Office or his deputies shall also ascertain that the applicant’s sight and hearing are normal, and may, in their discretion, require a certificate to that effect, signed by a reputable physician.

"An examination or demonstration to show any applicant’s ability to operate motor vehicles may also be required in the discretion of the Chief, Motor Vehicles Office or his deputies."

Section 5. Section thirty-one, article one, Chapter Three of the same Act, as amended, is further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 31. Renewal of license. -Any license not renewed every year on or before the last working day of the month when the applicant was born shall become delinquent and invalid.

"The fee for renewal of delinquent license shall be five pesos, in addition to the basic fee as hereinabove prescribed.

"Every applicant for renewal of license to operate any motor vehicle shall present to the Chief, Motor Vehicles Office either in person or by mail or messenger the license issued to the applicant for the previous year, together with the proper fee of five pesos and, in the case of professional chauffeurs, three copies of a readily recognized photograph of the applicant which photograph shall have been taken not exceeding three years prior to the date of appreciation for renewal.

"Lost license. -In case the license for the previous year has been lost or cannot be produced, the applicant shall obtain a duplicate on accord with section ten of this Act, on penalty of refusal, by the Chief, Motor Vehicles Office or his deputies to renew the license: Provided, However, That the Chief, Motor Vehicles Office or his deputies may, in their discretion, accept in lieu of the previous year’s license, the duly signed and sworn statement of an operator to the effect that he has not operated any motor vehicle in the Philippines during the year or years for which no license was issued in his name.

"The Chief, Motor Vehicles Office and his deputies are hereby authorized to administer the oath in connection with such affidavit."

Section 6. This Act shall take effect with respect to car license and drivers’ licenses for the calendar year nineteen hundred and sixty.

Approved: June 20, 1959.


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