Section 288
SEC. 288. Unlawful possession or use of instrument not sealed before using and not sealed within twelve months from last sealing. — Any person making a practice of buying or selling goods by weight, or measure, or of furnishing services the value of which is estimated by weight or measure, who has in his possession without permit any unsealed scale, balance, weight or measure, and any person who uses, in any purchase or sale or in estimating the value of any service furnished, any instrument of weight or measure that has not been officially sealed, or if previously sealed, the license therefor has expired and has not been renewed in due time, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred pesos or by imprisonment for not exceeding one year, or both; but if such scale, balance, weight, or measure so used has been officially affixed thereto remain intact and in the same position and condition in which they were placed by the official sealer, and the instrument is found not to have been altered or rendered inaccurate but still to be sufficiently accurate to warrant its being sealed without repairs or alteration, such instrument shall, if presented for sealing promptly on demand of any authorized sealer or inspector of weights and measures, be sealed, and the owner, possessor, or user of same shall be subject to no penalty except a surcharge equal to five times the regular fee fixed by law for the sealing of an instrument of its class, this surcharge to be collected and accounted for by the same official and in the same manner as the regular fees for sealing such instruments.