Scope: registration fees and timing
- Section 4 (as amended) governs each application for motor-vehicle registration for one calendar year.
- The required registration-fee tariff applies to all motor vehicles, subject to the specific categories stated in Section 4.
- The fee is computed based on vehicle type, features, and carrying capacity determinations made by the Director of Public Works.
- Motor vehicles operated for hire are assessed an additional amount, except for motor trucks and motorcycles.
Registration fee tariff (Amounts and bases)
- All motor vehicles, except motorcycles and motor trucks pay twenty centavos per horse power.
- Motor trucks, including trailers, pay:
- Fifty pesos for the first one thousand kilos (or fractional part thereof) of carrying capacity, as determined by the Director of Public Works, plus four pesos for each additional five hundred kilos (or fraction thereof over two hundred kilos).
- Motor trucks with rubber tires engaged exclusively in carrying passengers pay:
- Ten pesos for the first one thousand kilos (or fractional part thereof) of carrying capacity, plus two pesos for each additional five hundred kilos (or fraction thereof over two hundred kilos).
- Motor trucks with rubber tires engaged exclusively in carrying merchandise or freight pay:
- Twenty-five pesos for the first one thousand kilos (or fractional part thereof) of carrying capacity, plus three pesos for each additional five hundred kilos (or fraction thereof over two hundred kilos).
- Motor vehicles operated for hire, except motor trucks and motorcycles, pay twenty pesos in addition to the fee per horse power.
- Motorcycles of two or three wheels pay three pesos each.
Registration fee proration by application month
- If an application for registration is made during January 1 to March 31 (inclusive), the annual fee is paid.
- If an application is made during April 1 to June 30 (inclusive), three-fourths of the annual fee is paid.
- If an application is made during July 1 to September 30 (inclusive), one-half of the annual fee is paid.
- If an application is made during October 1 to December 31 (inclusive), one-fourth of the annual fee is paid.
Date-of-application rule for mailed payments
- The postal date of envelopes containing money orders, checks or cash is treated as the date of application for applying the tariff.
- If an envelope is improperly prepared, the postal date of the envelope containing the properly prepared application is treated as the date of application.
Tourist motor-vehicle registration exemptions
- Tourists sojourning in the Philippine Islands for a period of two months or less are exempt from payment of the fees under Section 4.
- If tourists remain for any part of a period from two months to five months (inclusive), they pay one quarter of the annual fee.
- If tourists remain for any part of a period from six months to eight months (inclusive), they pay one-half of the annual fee.
- If tourists remain for any part of a period from nine months to eleven months (inclusive), they pay three-fourths of the annual fee.
- If tourists remain longer than eleven months, they pay the full annual fee.
- Tourists must still:
- register their motor vehicles;
- pay one peso for each certificate; and
- pay one peso for each number plate issued.
- Tourists must also pay five pesos for a license if they intend to drive their own cars.
Required vehicle lamps (hours and visibility)
- Every motor vehicle of more than three wheels in use on a public highway, whether in motion or not, must bear two lamps in front, one on each side.
- The two front lamps must be lighted not later than one-half hour after sunset and until at least one-half hour before sunrise.
- While the vehicle is in motion, the level light must render a person dressed in dark clothing visible for not less than thirty meters ahead.
- The forward light must be white light.
- Additional lamps and lights may be carried, but if:
- one additional lamp is carried, it must be affixed midway between the two required lamps;
- two additional lamps are carried and one is lighted, the other must also be lighted.
- Every such vehicle must, during the same hours:
- bear in the rear a lamp throwing white light upon the number plate or other distinguishing mark so the number is legible for eighteen meters in the direction from which the vehicle is proceeding; and
- bear a red light to the rear.
- The specified burning hours do not exempt operators from lighting (or causing lighting) earlier or later when atmospheric or weather conditions or other phenomena make use dangerous or unsafe.
- Motor vehicles of less than four wheels must, during the fixed hours, bear in front a lamp throwing white light ahead.
- Every other vehicle of any style, kind, make, character, or nature must bear one or more lights arranged so they are visible from in front and from the rear during the fixed hours.
Headlight prohibition within poblaciones
- Use of a headlight that concentrates and projects light into a beam is prohibited within the limits of the poblaciones unless the reflected beam is adjusted or equipped so it is not visible for more than seventy-five centimeters above the ground at a distance of twenty meters or more.
- Operating the motor vehicle on a public highway with only one of a pair of additional lamps lighted is prohibited.
Effectivity and basic amendment framework
- The Act is enacted February 24, 1916.
- Section 3 states the Act takes effect on its passage.