House to vote on stricter anti-car theft law

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives will vote anytime soon on the proposed amendments to Republic Act 6539 or the Anti-Carnapping Act of 1972 after the committee on the revision of laws agreed to impose stiffer penalties on car theft and make it a non-bailable offense.

Buhay party-list Rep. Irwin Tieng said the House committee on revision of laws has consolidated eight bills seeking to impose harsher penalties on the crime as car theft and carjacking remain rampant in the country.

He said the panel, chaired by Pangasinan Rep. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas, agreed to impose a prison term of 20 years to 40 years. Moreover, any person charged with car theft shall be denied bail when evidence of guilt is strong, the lawmaker said.

With the adoption of these penalties, the crime committed will be non-bailable, which he said “is a key element both in stopping repeat offenders and thinning the ranks of organized crime syndicates.”

“At the end of the day, this communicates a tougher stance against (car thieves and carjackers), with the ultimate objective of deterring criminals and reducing the incidence of (car theft and carjacking) in the country, and more importantly limiting the vicious acts associated with the crime,” Tieng said.

Tieng authored House Bill 912 that sought stiffer penalties for carjackers to aid law enforcement agencies in controlling the growing rampancy and heinousness of the crime in the country.

He said carjacking and car theft are increasingly associated with not just loss of property but the loss of life as well.

He said car dealer Venson Evangelista was reportedly slain by the gang of carjacking syndicate leader Raymond Dominguez in 2011.

During the course of the legal proceedings, it was noted that Dominguez was able to post bail for multiple charges of car theft, he said.

In 2012, the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG), a unit tasked with preventing carjacking and recovering stolen vehicles, reported an average of 1.9 stolen vehicles daily.

Despite stepped-up efforts at deterrence and retrieval, the car theft and carjacking average has dropped to only 1.8 vehicles daily last year.

The PNP-HPG aims to drop this average to one incident per day by 2015.

Officials of the PNP-HPG said many carjacking syndicates are also involved in other heinous crimes like bank robbery, kidnapping or drug trafficking.