Act No. 2639 — An Act to Amend Act Numbered Twenty-One Hundred and Fifty-Nine, Entitled "An Act to Regulate Motor Vehicle Traffic in the Philippine Islands, to Provide for the Registration of Motor Vehicles and the Licensing of Operators, and to Require All Vehicles on Highways to Carry Lights, and for Other Purposes" as Amended, by Regulating the Use of Headlights on Motor Vehicles, and for Other Purposes.

Act No. 2639 · Act · Approved February 24, 1916 · 3 sections

Data as of July 4, 2026 · Compiled from an official source version. Later amendments or repeals may not be reflected; the official text prevails. · Read the official text ↗

Section 1

SECTION 1. Section four of Act Numbered Twenty-one hundred and fifty-nine, entitled "An Act to regulate motor vehicle traffic in the Philippine Islands, to provide for the registration of motor vehicles, and the licensing of operators, and to require all vehicles on highways to carry lights, and for other purposes" as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4. Each such application, if for one calendar year, shall be accompanied by a registration fee in accordance with the following tariff: "All motor vehicles, except motorcycles and motor trucks, the sum of twenty centavos per horse power. "Motor trucks, with metallic tires in whole or in part, including trailers, carrying passengers, merchandise or freight, the sum of fifty pesos for the first one thousand kilos or fractional part "thereof of carrying capacity as determined by the Director of Public Works and four pesos for each additional five hundred kilos, or fraction thereof over two hundred kilos; motor trucks with rubber tires engaged exclusively in carrying passengers, the sum of ten pesos for the first one thousand kilos or fractional part thereof of carrying capacity as determined by the Director of Public Works and two pesos for each additional five hundred kilos, or fraction thereof over two hundred kilos; and motor trucks with rubber tires engaged exclusively in carrying merchandise or freight, the sum of twenty-five pesos for the first one thousand kilos or fractional part thereof of carrying capacity as determined by the Director of Public Works, and three pesos for each additional five hundred kilos, or fraction thereof over two hundred kilos. "Motor vehicles operated for hire, except motor trucks and motorcycles, twenty pesos in addition to the fee per horse power. "Motorcycles of two or three wheels, three pesos each. "If an application for the registration is made during the period of January first to March thirty-first, inclusive, the annual fee mentioned above in this section shall be paid. If the application is made during the period of April first to June thirtieth, inclusive, three-fourths of the annual fee shall be paid. If the application is made during the period July first to September thirtieth, inclusive, one-half of the annual fee shall be paid. If the registration is made during the period of October first to December thirty-first, inclusive, one-fourth of the annual fee shall be paid. "The postal date of envelopes containing money orders, checks or cash shall be considered as the date of application in the appliance of the above tariff, except in the case of improperly prepared applications when the postal date of the envelope containing the properly prepared application shall be considered as the date of the application. "Tourists sojourning in the Philippine Islands for a period of two months or less shall be exempt from the payment of the above stated fees of this section, but if they remain in the Islands for any part of a period from two months to five months, inclusive, they shall be required to pay one quarter of the annual fee, if they remain for any part of a period from si£ months to eight months, inclusive, they shall be required to pay one-half of the annual fee, if they remain for any part of a period from nine months to eleven months, inclusive, they shall be required to pay three-fourths of the annual fee. If they remain a longer period than eleven months they shall be required to pay the full annual fee. They shall, however, be required to register their motor vehicles, and shall pay a peso for each certificate, and one peso for each number plate issued, and five pesos for a license if they intend to drive their own cars."

Section 2

SEC. 2. Section thirty-two of said Act as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows: "SEC. 32. Every motor vehicle of more than three wheels in use on any public highway, whether in motion or not, shall bear two lamps in front, one on each side which not later than one-half hour after sunset and until at least one-half hour before sunrise, shall be lighted. While the vehicle is in motion, the lights on a level shall render the person of a man dressed in dark clothing visible for a distance of not less than thirty meters ahead and the light thrown forward or ahead of the motor vehicle shall be white light. Additional lamps and lights may be carried; but if one additional lamp is carried it shall be affixed midway between the two lamps hereinbefore required. If two additional lamps are carried and one of them is lighted the other shall also be lighted. The use of a headlight, which concentrates and projects the light or any portion thereof into a beam, unless said light is so adjusted or equipped that the reflected beam of the light flowing therefrom shall not be visible for more than seventy-five centimeters above the ground at a distance of twenty meters or more, is prohibited within the limits of the poblaciones. The lighting of only one of a pair of additional lamps while the motor vehicle is operated upon a public highway is also prohibited. "Each such vehicle shall further, during the hours aforesaid, bear in the rear a lamp throwing a white light upon the number plate or other distinguishing mark issued for each vehicle, which light shall render the number legible for a distance of eighteen meters in the direction from which such motor vehicle is proceeding, and a red light to the rear. The hours herein fixed within which such lamps shall burn shall not exempt operators from the obligation of lighting such lamps or causing the same to be lighted at earlier or later hours or times when, on account of atmospheric or weather conditions or other phenomena, the use of such motor vehicles upon public highways might otherwise be dangerous or unsafe. Motor vehicles of less than four wheels shall, during the hours herein fixed, bear in front a lamp throwing a white light ahead. "Every other vehicle, of whatever style, kind, make, character, or nature, when upon a highway during the hours aforesaid, whether in motion or not, shall bear one or more lights so arranged that the same shall be visible from in front and from the rear of such vehicle."

Section 3

SEC. 3. This Act shall take effect on its passage. Enacted, February 24, 1916.

Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).

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