Disposal of unclaimed impounded vehicles

The decree targets motor vehicles impounded due to offenses committed by owners that are treated as abandoned because owners fail to pay required fines and penalties.
It addresses the unnecessary expenses caused by maintenance and security of impounded and abandoned vehicles.
It recognizes the risks, harm, and danger such vehicles may cause within the agency compound.
It establishes the need for an orderly disposal of impounded and abandoned vehicles at the Bureau or its agencies.

Section 1 applies to all motor vehicles duly impounded by the Director of Land Transportation, the Director’s deputy, or any other authorized officer.
The covered vehicles are those unreasonably and actually abandoned by their owners.
Abandonment is tied to failure of owners to pay necessary and required fines and penalties.
The abandonment condition is measured within a period of six months from the date of apprehension.
The disposal authorized under Section 1 is triggered once the six-month abandonment period is reached.

Section 1 requires that, before any public sale, the owners of the impounded and abandoned vehicles must be given written notice.
The written notice must provide the owners an option to redeem the property.
Owners must be allowed fifteen (15) days from receipt of notice to either redeem or act under the options provided in Section 1.
Redemption in Section 1 requires payment of all necessary charges.
Owners may alternatively choose to participate in the public bidding that the Bureau will set and conduct.

Section 3 requires the Bureau to fix the time and place of the public sale.
Section 3 provides that all concerned and interested parties may participate in the bidding.
Section 3 requires publication of notice of the sale’s time and place.
Publication must occur once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation.

Section 2 makes the owner responsible for storage fees.
Storage fees must be fixed by the Bureau and approved by the Minister of Transportation and Communications.
Section 2 also imposes a penalty of PHP 5.00 per day.
The PHP 5.00 per day penalty runs from the time the vehicle is impounded.
Section 2 caps the total amount of storage fees/penalty obligation such that it shall not exceed 1/5 of the appraised value of the vehicle.

Section 4 provides that after the public sale, the proceeds are applied to:
- all liens,
- fines,
- fees,
- penalties, and
- such other charges including the costs in the publication of notice.
Section 4 requires that any remainder after paying the foregoing charges shall be returned to the former owners.

Section 5 repeals, amends, or modifies conflicting laws, decrees, letter of instructions, orders, rules, and regulations, or any part thereof, inconsistent with the decree’s provisions.
Section 6 states that the decree takes effect immediately.
The decree is dated and signed in Manila on October 07, 1980.