President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has signed a law amending the “Motorcycle Crime Prevention Act,” requiring new owners to transfer motorcycle ownership within 20 working days.

Signed on May 9, the new law notably amends Section 4, reduces fines for certain violations, aiming to improve compliance while promoting responsible motorcycle ownership.

R. A. 11235 mandated that motorcycle owners register their motorcycles with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) within five days of acquiring ownership.

The punishment and fine were also changed for the dealer, original owner, or the new owner should they fail to comply with the new law.

From a penalty of imprisonment or a fine of not less than PhP20,000 but not more than PhP50,000, or both, the new law reduced it to a fine of not more than PhP5,000.

No seizure can also be made solely on the basis of the buyer’s non-compliance with the law’s requirements.

R. A. 11235 also mandates that dealers report all motorcycle repossessions to the LTO and submit an annual status report of repossessed units under their custody.

At the same time, section 5 now requires motorcycles to have larger, readable, and color-coded number plates.

Drivers without number plates now face a reduced fine of up to PhP5,000, instead of the original PhP50,000–PhP100,000 or jail time.

The law provides that no seizure will be made if the owner presents proof of registration and is not at fault for the missing or unreadable plate.

Section 11 lowers the penalty for failing to report lost number plates from up to PhP50,000 to a flat fine of PhP5,000. Meanwhile, Section 12 penalizes tampering or misuse of plates with 6 months to 2 years imprisonment, a fine up to PhP10,000, or both.

Similar punishment and fine will be imposed on persons who knowingly sell or buy an erased, tampered, altered, forged, or imitated number plate or readable number plate. | PND