Bohi's comments:
Must information for all drivers.Here is the link to the full text of the law:
http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1964/ra_4136_1964.html=============================================
REPUBLIC ACT No. 4136
AN ACT TO COMPILE THE LAWS RELATIVE TO LAND TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC RULES, TO CREATE A LAND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS ARTICLE
ARTICLE I
Title and Scope of Act
Section 1. Title of Act. - This Act shall be known as the "Land Transportation and Traffic Code."
Section 2. Scope of Act. - The provisions of this Act shall control, as far as they apply, the registration and operation of motor vehicles and the licensing of owners, dealers, conductors, drivers, and similar matters.
ARTICLE II
Definitions
Section 3. Words and phrases defined. - As used in this Act:
(a) "Motor Vehicle" shall mean any vehicle propelled by any power other than muscular power using the public highways, but excepting road rollers, trolley cars, street-sweepers, sprinklers, lawn mowers, bulldozers, graders, fork-lifts, amphibian trucks, and cranes if not used on public highways, vehicles which run only on rails or tracks, and tractors, trailers and traction engines of all kinds used exclusively for agricultural purposes.
Trailers having any number of wheels, when propelled or intended to be propelled by attachment to a motor vehicle, shall be classified as separate motor vehicle with no power rating.
(b) "Passenger automobiles" shall mean all pneumatic-tire vehicles of types similar to those usually known under the following terms: touring car, command car, speedster, sports car, roadster, jeep, cycle, car (except motor wheel and similar small outfits which are classified with motorcycles), coupe, landaulet, closed car, limousine, cabriolet, and sedan.
Motor vehicles with changed or rebuilt bodies, such as jeepneys, jitneys, or station wagons, using a chassis of the usual pneumatic-tire passenger automobile type, shall also be classified as passenger automobile, if their net allowable carrying capacity, as determined by the Commissioner of Land Transportation, does not exceed nine passengers and if they are not used primarily for carrying freight or merchandise.
The distinction between "passenger truck" and "passenger automobile" shall be that of common usage: Provided, That a motor vehicle registered for more than nine passengers shall be classified as "truck": And Provided, further, That a "truck with seating compartments at the back not used for hire shall be registered under special "S" classifications. In case of dispute, the Commissioner of Land Transportation shall determine the classification to which any special type of motor vehicle belongs.
(c) "Articulated vehicle" shall mean any motor vehicle with a trailer having no front axle and so attached that part of the trailer rests upon motor vehicle and a substantial part of the weight of the trailer and of its load is borne by the motor vehicle. Such a trailer shall be called as "semi-trailer."
(d) "Driver" shall mean every and any licensed operator of a motor vehicle.
(e) "Professional driver" shall mean every and any driver hired or paid for driving or operating a motor vehicle, whether for private use or for hire to the public.
Any person driving his own motor vehicle for hire is a professional driver.
(f) "Owner" shall mean the actual legal owner of a motor vehicle, in whose name such vehicle is duly registered with the Land Transportation Commission.
The "owner" of a government-owned motor vehicle is the head of the office or the chief of the Bureau to which the said motor vehicle belongs.
(g) "Dealer" shall mean every person, association, partnership, or corporation making, manufacturing, constructing, assembling, remodeling, rebuilding, or setting up motor vehicles; and every such entity acting as agent for the sale of one or more makes, styles, or kinds of motor vehicles, dealing in motor vehicles, keeping the same in stock or selling same or handling with a view to trading same.
(h) "Garage" shall mean any building in which two or more motor vehicles, either with or without drivers, are kept ready for hire to the public, but shall not include street stands, public service stations, or other public places designated by proper authority as parking spaces for motor vehicles for hire while awaiting or soliciting business.
(i) "Gross weight" shall mean the measured weight of a motor vehicle plus the maximum allowable carrying capacity in merchandise, freight and/or passenger, as determined by the Commissioner of Land Transportation.
(j) "Highways" shall mean every public thoroughfare, public boulevard, driveway, avenue, park, alley and callejon, but shall not include roadway upon grounds owned by private persons, colleges, universities, or other similar institutions.
(k) "The Commissioner of Land Transportation or his deputies" shall mean the actual or acting chief of the Land Transportation Commission or such representatives, deputies, or assistants as he may, with the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, appoint or designate in writing for the purpose contemplated by this Act.
(l) "Parking or parked", for the purposes of this Act, shall mean that a motor vehicle is "parked" or "parking" if it has been brought to a stop on the shoulder or proper edge of a highway, and remains inactive in that place or close thereto for an appreciable period of time. A motor vehicle which properly stops merely to discharge a passenger or to take in a waiting passenger, or to load or unload a small quantity of freight with reasonable dispatch shall not be considered as "parked", if the motor vehicle again moves away without delay.
(m) "Tourist" shall mean a foreigner who travels from place to place for pleasure or culture.
ARTICLE III
Administration of Act
Section 4. Creation of the Commission. -
(a) There is created under the Department of Public Works and Communications an office which shall be designated and known as the Land Transportation Commission, composed of one Commissioner and one Deputy Commissioner, who shall be vested with the powers and duties hereafter specified. Whenever the word "Commission" is used in this Act, it shall be deemed to mean the Land Transportation Commission, and whenever the word "Commissioner" is used in this Act, it shall be taken to mean the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner.
The Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner shall be natural-born citizens and residents of the Philippines, and they shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the Congress of the Philippines: Provided, however, That the present Administrator, Assistant Administrator and the personnel of the Motor Vehicles Office shall continue in office without the necessity of reappointment.
(b) The Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner shall hold office until removed in accordance with the provisions of the Revised Administrative Code.
(c) The Commissioner shall receive an annual compensation of twelve thousand pesos and the Deputy Commissioner, an annual compensation of ten thousand four hundred pesos. The Commissioner shall be assisted by one head executive assistant (MV regulation adviser or chief), one administrative officer, one registration regulation chief, one inspection, examination and licensing regulation chief, one law and traffic enforcement regulation chief, one provincial regulation chief, one utility and property regulation chief, one accounting officer, one internal chief auditor, and one personnel officer, who shall receive an annual compensation of nine thousand pesos each; eight land transportation regional directors who shall receive an annual compensation of eight thousand four hundred pesos each and eight land transportation assistant regional directors, who shall receive an annual compensation of seven thousand pesos each and ten assistant regulation chiefs, who shall receive an annual compensation of seven thousand pesos each.
(d) The Commission shall have its offices in Quezon City where the present Motor Vehicle Office is located, and shall establish a regional branch office each in Tuguegarao (Cagayan), Baguio City, Pasig (Rizal), Lipa City, San Fernando (La Union), Naga City, Cebu City, Iloilo City, Cagayan de Oro City, and Davao City, to be headed by a regional director who will have immediate administration, supervision and control over activities and administration of the Commission in the respective regions.
The Commissioner shall be responsible for the administration of this Act and shall have, in connection therewith, the following powers and duties, in addition to those mentioned elsewhere in this Act:
(1) With the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, to issue rules and regulations not in conflict with the provisions of this Act, prescribing the procedure for the examination, licensing and bonding of drivers; the registration and re-registration of motor vehicles, transfer of ownership, change of status; the replacement of lost certificates, licenses, badges, permits or number plates; and to prescribe the minimum standards and specifications including allowable gross weight, allowable length, width and height or motor vehicles, distribution of loads, allowable loads on tires, change of tire sizes, body design or carrying capacity subsequent to registration and all other special cases which may arise for which no specific provision is otherwise made in this Act.
(2) To compile and arrange all applications, certificates, permits, licenses, and to enter, note and record thereon transfers, notifications, suspensions, revocations, or judgments of conviction rendered by competent courts concerning violations of this Act, with the end in view of preserving and making easily available such documents and records to public officers and private persons properly and legitimately interested therein.
(3) To give public notice of the certificates, permits, licenses and badges issued, suspended or revoked and/or motor vehicles transferred and/or drivers bonded under the provisions of this Act.
(4) The Commissioner of Land Transportation, with the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, may designate as his deputy and agent any employee of the Land Transportation Commission, or such other government employees as he may deem expedient to assist in the carrying out the provisions of this Act.
(5) The Commissioner of Land Transportation and his deputies are hereby authorized to make arrest for violations of the provisions of this Act in so far as motor vehicles are concerned; to issue subpoena and subpoena duces tecum to compel the appearance of motor vehicle operators and divers and/or other persons or conductors; and to use all reasonable means within their powers to secure enforcement of the provisions of this Act.
(6) The Commissioner of Land Transportation or his deputies may at any time examine and inspect any motor vehicle to determine whether such motor vehicle is registered, or is unsightly, unsafe, overloaded, improperly marked or equipped, or otherwise unfit to be operated because of possible excessive damage to highways, bridges and/or culverts.
(7) The Philippine Constabulary and the city and municipal police forces are hereby given the authority and the primary responsibility and duty to prevent violations of this Act, and to carry out the police provisions hereof within their respective jurisdiction: Provided, That all apprehensions made shall be submitted for final disposition to the Commissioner and his deputies within twenty-four hours from the date of apprehension.
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All cases involving violations of this Act shall be endorsed immediately by the apprehending officer to the Land Transportation Commission. Where such violations necessitate immediate action, the same shall be endorsed to the traffic court, city or municipal court for summary investigation, hearing and disposition, but in all such cases, appropriate notices of the apprehensions and the dispositions thereof shall be given to the Commissioner of Land Transportation by the law-enforcement agency and the court concerned.
Notation of all such dispositions shall be entered in the records, and copy shall be mailed to the owner and to the driver concerned.
CHAPTER II
REGISTRATION OF MOTOR VEHICLES
ARTICLE I
Duty to Register, Reports, Applications, Classifications
Section 5. All motor vehicles and other vehicles must be registered.
(a) No motor vehicle shall be used or operated on or upon any public highway of the Philippines unless the same is properly registered for the current year in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
(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 - from March one to the last working day of May.
3. All other motor vehicles - from June one to the last working day of June; except when the plates of such motor vehicles are returned to the Commission in Quezon City or to the Office of the Motor Vehicles Registrar in the provincial or city agency of the Commission on or before the last working day of December of the year of issue.
(c) Dealer's reports - The Commissioner of Land Transportation shall require dealers to furnish him with such information and reports concerning the sale, importation, manufacture, number of stocks, transfer or other transactions affecting motor vehicles as may be necessary for the effective enforcement of the provisions of this Act.
(d) Change of motor number prohibited. - No repair or change in the motor vehicle involving the exchange, elimination, effacing, or replacing of the original or registered serial or motor number as stamped or imprinted, shall be allowed, and any motor vehicle with a trace of having its motor number altered or tampered with shall be refused registration or re-registration, unless such is satisfactorily explained and approved by the Commissioner.
(e) Encumbrances of motor vehicles. - Mortgages, attachments, and other encumbrances of motor vehicles, in order to be valid, must be recorded in the Land Transportation Commission and must be properly recorded on the face of all outstanding copies of the certificates of registration of the vehicle concerned.
Cancellation or foreclosure of such mortgages, attachments, and other encumbrances shall likewise be recorded, and in the absence of such cancellation, no certificate of registration shall be issued without the corresponding notation of mortgage, attachment and/or other encumbrances.
Records of encumbrances of motor vehicles shall be kept by the Land Transportation Commission in chronological sequence and shall contain, among other things, the time, date and number of the entry in a "Book of Motor Vehicles" referring to the creation, cancellation or foreclosure of the aforesaid mortgages, attachments or to other encumbrances.
The Land Transportation Commission shall collect a fee of five pesos for every annotation of a mortgage, attachment and/or other encumbrances, or cancellation thereof.
Section 6. Application and payments for registration. - Applications and payments for registration shall be made either personally or by registered mail, and the date of the cancellation of the postage stamps of envelopes containing money order or check shall be taken as the date of the application and/or payment for registration: Provided, That the application is properly prepared and the payment for registration is sufficient as required by law.
Section 7. Registration Classification. - Every motor vehicle shall be registered under one of the following described classifications:
(a) private passenger automobiles; (b) private trucks; and (c) private motorcycles, scooters, or motor wheel attachments. Motor vehicles registered under these classifications shall not be used for hire under any circumstances and shall not be used to solicit, accept, or be used to transport passengers or freight for pay.
Laborers necessary to handle freight on board private trucks may ride on such trucks: Provided, That seats shall not be installed in the rear compartment thereof and that only such number of laborers, not exceeding ten, as may be needed to handle the kind of freight carried, shall ride on the truck: Provided, further, That the combined weight of cargo and passengers does not exceed the registered net capacity of the truck.
For the purpose of this section, a vehicle habitually used to carry freight not belonging to the registered owner thereof, or passengers not related by consanguinity or affinity within the fourth civil degree to such owner, shall be conclusively presumed to be "for hire."
No person shall be allowed to register as private truck any truck not actually and reasonably necessary to carry out his duly licensed business or legitimate occupation or industry regularly paying taxes.
(d) Public utility automobiles; e) public utility trucks; (f) taxis and auto-calesas; (g) garage automobiles; (h) garage trucks; (i) hire trucks: and (j) trucks owned by contractors and customs brokers and customs agents. Application for registration under these classifications shall be accompanied by a certificate of public convenience or a special permit issued by the Public Service Commission, and motor vehicles registered under these classifications shall be subject to the Public Service Law, rules and regulations, as well as the provisions of this Act.
(k) Undertakes
(l) Dealers - Registrations under this classification are intended to cover generally and successively all the motor vehicles imported or handled by dealers for sale. Motor vehicles registered under the dealer's classification shall, under no circumstances, be employed to carry passengers or freight in the dealer's business, or for hire. Such vehicles shall be operated under this classification only for the purpose of transporting the vehicle itself from the pier or factory to the warehouse or sales room or for delivery to a prospective purchaser or for test or demonstration.
(m) Government automobiles; (n) government trucks; and (o) government motorcycles. Motor vehicles owned by the Government of the Philippines or any of its political subdivisions shall be registered under these classifications. Motor vehicles owned by government corporations, by government employees or by foreign governments shall not be registered under this classification.
(p) Tourists bringing their own motor vehicles to the Philippines may, without registering such motor vehicles, use the same during but not after ninety days of their sojourn: Provided, That the motor vehicle displays the number plates for the current year of some other country or state, and said number plates as well as the name and address (permanent and temporary) of the owner thereof are registered in the Land Transportation Commission prior to the operation of the motor vehicle.
If such tourist remain in the Philippines longer than ninety days, the motor vehicle shall not be operated unless registered in accordance with this Act and the corresponding registration fees paid.
(q) Special. The Commissioner of Land Transportation may, in his discretion, allow the registration under this classification of motor vehicles which do not conform to the foregoing described regular classification.
ARTICLE II
Registration Fees
Section 8. Schedule of registration fees. - Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Act, each application for renewal of registration of motor vehicles shall be accompanied by an annual registration fee in accordance with the following schedule:
(a) Private automobiles with pneumatic rubber tires, an amount based on their respective shipping weight or factory weight as indicated in the following schedule:
1,000 kilos or less P75.00
1,000 to 1,500 kilos 100.00
1,501 to 2,000 kilos 135.00
2,001 kilos 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, further, That in the case of automobiles with altered, changed or rebuilt bodies, the weight as obtained: by actual weighing shall be considered the vehicles weight: Provided, furthermore, That the increase registration fees herein prescribed shall not apply to jeeps and jeepneys for private use or for hire and the fees hereof 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, a horizontal rectangular area, including seat and feet space, not less than thirty-five centimeters wide and sixty centimeters long, except in the front seat, which shall allow an area fifty centimeters wide for the operator.
2. For each half passenger, a horizontal rectangular area, including seat and feet spaces, not less that seventeen and a half centimeters wide by sixty centimeters long, provided, that each continuous row of seats shall not be allowed to have more that one-half passenger.
(b) Private motor trucks, passenger buses and trailers with pneumatic rubber tires, the sum of five pesos for every hundred kilograms of maximum allowable gross weight or fraction thereof.
(c) Private motor trucks, passenger buses and trailers with solid rubber tires or with part-solid and part-pneumatic rubber tires, the sum of seven pesos for every hundred kilograms of maximum allowable gross weight or fraction thereof.
(d) Private motorcycles and scooters of two or three wheels and bicycles with motor attachments, the sum of thirty pesos.
(e) The fee for registration of motor vehicles for hire shall be sixty percent more than the fee prescribed for private motor vehicles of the same category.
(f) The fee for registration of diesel-consuming vehicles shall be fifty percent more than that of vehicles using motor fuel other than diesel oil. The fee for registration of motor vehicles for hire shall be sixty percent more than the fees prescribed for private motor vehicles.
(g) No regular registration fees shall be charged for the general registration of motor vehicles contemplated under the dealer's classification: Provided, That the Commissioner of Land Transportation shall provide appropriate dealer's number plates corresponding to the classification of vehicles hereinbelow described, and registration fee for every set of such dealer's number plates shall be in accordance with the following schedule of rates;
Two hundred pesos for each truck or trailer;
One hundred pesos for each passenger automobile; and
Twenty pesos for each motorcycle and the like.
(h) Registration under the "Government Motor Vehicle" classification shall be free of charge, upon request of the chief of bureau or office concerned.
(i) Motor vehicles not intended to be operated or used upon any public highway, or which are operated on highways not constructed or maintained by the Government, or are intended not to be used or operated at all, shall be exempt from payment of the registration fees provided in this Act, but shall each pay an annual recording and service fee of fifteen pesos: Provided, however, That no refund, credit for, or reimbursement of registration fees or part thereof shall be made to any owner on account of the discontinuance of the use or operation of a motor vehicle subsequent to the payment of such registration fees: Provided, further, That in the event motor vehicles exempted under this section shall be found operated on any public highways, the regular registration fees and surcharges shall be collected in addition to whatever penalties may be imposed for violation of this Act. The Commissioner of Land Transportation shall provide distinctive number plates for vehicles exempted from payment of regular registration fees, and the owner of the vehicles concerned shall pay four pesos for each set of such number plates.
(j) The maximum allowable gross weight of a motor truck, passenger bus, or trailer, upon which to compute the registration fee thereof, shall be determined by the Commissioner of Land Transportation. He shall, from time to time as the need of the service may require, prepare, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, suitable tables of maximum allowable loads per wheel for different sizes kinds of tires.
(k) The registration fees provided in this Act for trucks may be payable in two equal installment, the first to be paid on or before the last working day of February if for hire, and in March if private; and the second to be paid on or before the last working day of August: Provided, That the fifty per cent penalty shall apply only to the unpaid balance of the remaining period of delinquency.
Section 9. Permissible weights and dimensions of vehicles in highways traffic.
(a) The maximum gross weight and measurement of motor vehicles, unladen or with load, permissible on public highways shall be as specified hereunder, subject to such regulations as the Commissioner with the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, may promulgate, from time to time, as the conditions of the public highways may warrant and the needs of the service may require.
Permissible maximum weights:
1. Per most heavily loaded wheel three thousand six hundred kilograms;
2. Per most heavily loaded axle eight thousand kilograms;
3. Per most heavily loaded axle group (the two axles of the group being at least one meter and less than two meters apart) fourteen thousand five hundred kilograms.
An axle weight shall be the total weight transmitted to the road by all the wheels the centers of which can be included between the parallel transverse vertical planes one meter apart extending across the full width of the vehicles.
No provincial, city or municipal authority shall enact or enforce any ordinance or resolution regulating or prescribing the maximum gross weight of any motor vehicle.
(b) No motor vehicle operating as a single unit shall exceed the following dimensions:
Overall width two and five-tenths meters
Overall height four meters
Overall length:
Freight vehicles with two axles ten meters
Passenger vehicles with two axles eleven meters
Vehicles with three or more axles fourteen meters
(c) No motor vehicle and/or trailer combination shall exceed eighteen meters in overall projected length, including any load carried on such vehicle and trailer.
(d) No articulated vehicles shall be allowed to draw or pull a trailer and no vehicle already drawing a trailer shall draw another.
Section 10. Special permits, fees for. - The Commissioner with the approval of the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, shall issue regulations and schedules of additional fees under which special permits may be issued in the discretion of the Commissioner or his deputies for each of the following special cases, without which special permit no vehicles shall be operated on the public highways:
(a) To operate a motor vehicle or trailer outfit with wheel, axle, or axle group loads in excess of the limits fixed in subsection (a) of Section nine hereof or in any regulation issued by the Commissioner.
(b) To operate a motor vehicle the size of which exceeds the limit of permissible dimensions specified in paragraph (b) of Section nine hereof.
(c) To operate a motor vehicle with any part of the load extending beyond the projected width of the vehicle.
(d) To pull two trailers behind a motor vehicle.
(e) For any other special authority relating to the use of vehicles, not otherwise specifically provided herein.
Section 11. Additional fees. - In addition to the fees elsewhere provided in this Act, for each change of registration, from private to for hire or vice-versa; revision of gross weight rating, change of tire size; transfer of ownership; replacement of a lost registration certificate, number plate, driver's license or permit; badge; preparation of affidavit or certified copy of records, or for any similar circumstances requiring the issue, revision, or reissue of a certificate of registration, driver's license, badge, permit, or other document, a fee of two pesos shall be collected.
The replacement of a lost or utterly spoiled certificate, number plate, license, badge or permit shall render the original invalid.
In case of request in writing for certification of data or facts involving two or more vehicles, a fee of five pesos a page or part thereof shall be collected for each certification.
Section 12. Fee for original registration for part of year. - If any application for the original registration is made during the first quarter of a calendar year, the total annual fee for the year shall be paid, if made during the second quarter, three-fourths of the annual fee for that year shall be paid, if made during the third quarter, one half of the annual fee shall be paid, and if made during the fourth quarter, one-fourth of the annual fee shall be paid.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as allowing quarterly renewals of registrations in order to avoid payment of fees in advance for the entire year.
Section 13. Payment of taxes upon registration. - No original registration of motor vehicles subject to payment of taxes, customs duties or other charges shall be accepted unless proof of payment of the taxes due thereon has been presented to the Commission.
ARTICLE III
Registration Certificates, Records, Number Plates
Section 14. Issuance of certificates of registration. - A properly numbered certificate of registration shall be issued for each separate motor vehicle after due inspection and payment of corresponding registration fees.
Section 15. Use and authority of certificate of registration.
(a) The said certificate shall be preserved and carried in the car by the owner as evidence of the registration of the motor vehicle described therein, and shall be presented with subsequent applications for re-registration, transfer of ownership, or recording of encumbrances: Provided, That in lieu of the certificate of registration a true copy or photostat thereof may be carried in the motor vehicle.
(b) The certificate of registration issued under the provisions of this Act for any motor vehicle shall, while the same is valid and effective and has not been suspended or revoked, be the authority for the operation of such motor vehicle.
(c) No motor vehicle shall be operated on the public highways in a manner which would place it under a classification requiring the payment of a larger registration fee than that stated in the certificate of registration.
Section 16. Suspension of registration certificate. - If on inspection, as provided in paragraph (6) of Section four hereof, any motor vehicle is found to be unsightly, unsafe, overloaded, improperly marked or equipped, or otherwise unfit to be operated, or capable of causing excessive damage to the highways, or not conforming to minimum standards and specifications, the Commissioner may refuse to register the said motor vehicle, or if already registered, may require the number plates thereof to be surrendered to him, and upon seventy-two hours notice to the owner of the motor vehicle, suspend such registration until the defects of the vehicle are corrected and/or the minimum standards and specifications fully complied with.
Whenever it shall appear from the records of the Commission that during any twelve-month period more than three warnings for violations of this Act have been given to the owner of a motor vehicle, or that the said owner has been convicted by a competent court more than once for violation of such laws, the Commissioner may, in his discretion, suspend the certificate of registration for a period not exceeding ninety days and, thereupon, shall require the immediate surrender of the number plates.
Whenever a motor vehicle is found to be underweight the owner thereof shall pay the difference in the registration fees corresponding to the shortage in weight plus a fifty per cent surcharge, and until such payment is made, the certificate of registration of the motor vehicle concerned shall be suspended by the Commissioner.
After two such suspension, re-registration of the vehicle concerned for one year may be denied.
The Commissioner shall notify the owner of the motor vehicle of any action taken by him under this section.
Section 17. Number plates, preparation, preparation and issuance of . -
(a) The Commissioner shall cause number plates to be prepared and issued to owners of motor vehicles and trailers registered under this Act, charging a fee of four pesos for each pair including the numerals indicating the year of registry: Provided, however, That in case no number plates are available, the Commissioner 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 another: Provided, furthermore, 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 the fees: And, provided, finally, That the owner thereof shall return such plates to the Land Transportation Commission 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 on a detachable tag, the Commissioner or his deputies may, in their discretion, issue the said tag only for subsequent re-registration charging a fee of one peso for each tag issued.
Section 18. Use of number plates. - At all times, every motor vehicle shall display in conspicuous places, one in front and one in the rear thereof, the said number plates.
The number plates shall be kept clean and cared for, and shall be firmly affixed to the motor vehicle in such a manner as will make it entirely visible and always legible.
Except in the case of dealer's number plates which may be used successively on various motor vehicles in stock, no person shall transfer number plates from motor vehicle to another.
No dealer's number plate shall be used on any motor vehicle after said vehicle has been sold and delivered to a purchaser, and no dealer shall allow such dealer's number plates to be used on any motor vehicle after its sale and delivery to a purchaser.
CHAPTER III
OPERATION OF MOTOR VEHICLE