Revised Philippine Carnapping Bill Will Make Stealing Cars Even Tougher

MANILA: If you have become weary of various carnapping incidents across the country, your days of worries might soon be over. According to the Philippine new Carnapping bill, offenders will face a much tougher time if they are proven guilty of car theft. While there was a similar act that has existed in the country since 1972, but it limits their imprisonment for 14 to 17 years. The waves of automotive related crime has been on a constant rise in the recent years as seen in the recent towing scam, that required special government intervention. Nevertheless, the new bill takes the punishment for car thieves to a totally different level by increasing the maximum time of imprisonment to 40 years and life imprisonment in case of any death. Carnapping has also been termed as a non-bailable offence under this new amendment, with possibility of co-conspirators in the carjacking incident also being convicted and facing 6-12 years of jail time.

The Anti-Carnapping Act of 2015 not only makes it easy for any such criminals to evade any allegations for their offences but also curbs selling of such stolen or wrecked vehicles. This will be achieved by removing the ‘deed of sale’ as the minimum requirement for the sale of second hand spare parts. The seller will now have to get an additional clearance certificate from the Philippine National Police (PNP) along with an additional no-objection certificate from the Philippine Land Transportation Office (LTO). Even public servants and government employees aren’t safe in case they are proven guilty of being involved in the crime and will be dismissed from their posts with no possibility of re-admission. The revision in the old carnapping act will put a minimum of 20-30 years of life imprisonment for an act committed without violence and from 30-40 years of jail if a vehicle is stolen forcefully with intimidation.

The Improved Philippine Carnapping Bill has been presented to President Aquino, who will be completing his term shortly as the head of the Philippine government. Therefore this will be a final act of heroism by the current President before the reins of the country are handed over to a new leader.