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Anti Fencing Law PD 1612
Anti Fencing Law PD 1612
The penalty of arresto mayor in its minimum period if such value does not exceed 5
pesos.
* *
Anti-fencing laws are designed to punish the people who sell stolen goods.
Avoid Buying Stolen Items
Why? You might not know that buying stolen goods or items is a violation of Anti-
Fencing Law in the Philippines. If you are a foreigner living here in the
Philippines, you should be aware of that. Even if you do not know that the item you
bought is stolen or from an unknown thief, you are still punishable under this law.
The sanctions?... you might be imprisoned for years and penalized for a big amount
of money depending on the value of item. Usual victims are those who are engage in
buy and sell in business.
Philippine Anti-Fencing Law Case Study
I want to share this with you, my personal experience. This experience taught me a
lesson very well on this anti-fencing law. I was one of the victim of buying stolen
item. I don't know the person (or the seller of the item). I'm just familiar with
his face. He lives in our neighborhood. One day, he approached me to buy his "item
x". (I don't want to mention the item for my privacy). He talked to me very well
and convinced me to buy his "item x". Well, I was very impressed and very
interested with the "item x". He told me that he owned "item x" and it was a gift
from his mother abroad. Too good to be true. After a little chitchat, I bought the
"item-x". After few days, a group of people came into my house and someone knocked
at my door very aggressively that disturbed me so much. When I opened the door, I
saw the person (seller of the "item x") and a group of people below the stairs
outside my house. Angry voices slammed in my ears. I was a little nervous and
curious. I
asked myself "why do they talked to me like this?"... after few interrogations, I
knew now that the "item-x" I bought was a stolen item. The value of the "item x"
costs more than 10,000 pesos. The real owner asked me to returned the "item x", if
not, they will be forced to file a case against me even though I don't know that
the "item x" I bought was a stolen one. I asked them a favor to give me 1 day to
return the item. I was now very nervous on how to get the "item x". I already sold
out the "item x" to a certain foreigner few days ago, since I'm engaged in buy and
sell business. Do you know what I did?
Ways or Steps I Did on How I Get Out of Trouble Against this Anti-Fencing Law thing
"How I defend myself" 1. I called my father through phone. Father is the first
thing that came into my mind. Mind you, you will do the same like I did. Parents
are GREAT ADVISERS. They are full of experiences. My father told me to return the
"item-x". My father told me about this "AntiFencing Law" thing. His best advice is
to return "item x" 2. Second, I search the net about "Anti-Fencing Law". I read the
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1612 - ANTIFENCING LAW OF 1979 (for more info regarding
this law try to visit this:
http://www.chanrobles.com/presidentialdecrees/presidentialdecreeno1612.html) After
reading
some useful articles from the net regarding Anti-Fencing Law cases, I'm thinking
that I could be able to defend myself in the court by telling them that I was
unaware or I don't know that it was a stolen item. As what the Anti-Fencing Law
suggest that, "Fencing is applied to the person buying the stolen item with the
knowledge that the item is stolen and with an intent to gain". After this amateur
conclusion in my mind, I was still curious and wanted to know more: "Could I defend
myself in the court and get out of trouble by just merely saying, I'm not aware or
I don't know that the "item x" was stolen?... I did more research in the net and
found out that there was an Anti-Fencing Law Case in the Philippines that punished
and penalized the person who bought the stolen item even though he was not aware or
did not know that it was stolen. So, my conclusion turned around: I will still be
convicted and penalized under the Anti-Fencing Law even though I don't know that
item was stolen. 3. Third step, I've taken was... I called my uncle through phone.
My uncle is a Police Technical Inspector. He specializes on Crime Investigations. I
talked to him about what happened and regarding the anti-fencing law. Do you know
what is his advice? The same as my father: "Return the stolen item". The reason? -
to minimize expenses. More money will be spent if the item is not returned.
Expenses for the attorney, proceedings, paperworks, and lots of time to be spent.
Here are some very helpful techniques my uncle shared to me. He said, "Try to
negotiate the owner of the stolen item. If you cannot return the item because it
was already sold out to somebody who don't want to return the item, ask the real
owner of the stolen item to pay for the present value of the item. Since it was
already secondhand, pay it as a secondhand. Talk to them sincerely and be humble as
much as possible. Abandon your pride. And be sure to bring at least 2 witnesses
(people whom you and the real owner of the item know), a pen and a paper for an
AGREEMENT to be signed that you already successfully returned the item to the real
owner. You can pay lesser if you negotiate properly.
After all of these given steps, I made up my mind to do their advices and I have
now more ideas about Anti Fencing law. Within that days before I successfully
returned the stolen item to the real owner, I suffered a lot of discomfort and
fever. This is my experience I can't forget. It taught me a lesson very well
regarding this anti-fencing law. I hope you'll also learned from this.
Lessons to Be Learned (Anti Fencing Law lessons)