PENALIZING THE UNAUTHORIZED SALVAGE OF VESSELS, WRECKS, DERELICTS AND OTHER HAZARDS TO NAVIGATION AS WELL AS CARGOES CARRIED BY SUNKEN VESSELS.

• Number: Presidential Decree No. 890
• Sections: 5

Preamble

WHEREAS, Letter of Instruction No. 263 dated March 31, 1975

authorizes the Philippine Coast Guard to issue permits to salvage

derelicts and sunken vessels or wrecks, and the Bureau of Customs to

issue permits to salvage cargoes carried by sunken vessels;

WHEREAS, in order to ensure full and strict compliance with

the said Letter of Instruction No. 263, it is necessary that certain

penalties be provided for unauthorized salvage operations.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the

Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution,

do hereby decree and order:

Section 1

SECTION 1. That henceforth it shall be unlawful for any

person to engage in the business or operation of salvaging vessels,

wrecks, derelicts and other hazards to navigation, or of salvaging

cargoes carried by sunken vessels, without first securing the required

salvage permit from competent authority pursuant to Letter of

Instruction No. 263, and any violator hereof shall, upon conviction, be

punished by a fine of not less than P100.00 nor more than P500.00 or

imprisonment for not less than thirty (30) days nor more than six (6)

months, or both, at the discretion of the Court.

Section 2

SEC. 2. If the offender is a juridical person, the

President or the Manager, or any other official in charge of the

management thereof, as the case maybe, shall suffer the penalties herein

provided.

Section 3

SEC. 3. Any watercraft, equipment, tools, paraphernalia or

instruments used in the salvage of vessels, wrecks, derelicts, and other

hazards to navigation, as well as the cargoes carried by the vessels

which are recovered in violation hereof, shall be impounded and

forfeited in favor of the government.

Section 4

SEC. 4. Independently of the criminal liability herein

provided, the Secretary of National Defense is hereby empowered to

impose, in the exercise of his discretion, an administrative fine for

violations hereof at such rates as may be fixed by him which in no case

shall exceed the amount of P1,000.00.

Done in the City of Manila, this 9th day of February, in the year

of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-six.

(Sgd.)

FERDINAND E. MARCOS

President

Republic of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.)

JACOBO C. CLAVE

Presidential Executive Assistant