BACOLOD City – Mayor Alfredo Benitez ordered the city government’s Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) to inspect business establishments and cancel the permits of those that violate the Anti-Fencing Law.
Information reached the mayor about the rampant stealing of copper and electrical wires in the city, and that these stolen items were being sold by thieves to retailers.
Benitez issued Executive Order (EO) No. 015 in the hope of stopping these.
“All establishments, stores or entities dealing in the buy and sell of goods obtained from an unlicensed dealer or supplier is required to secure the necessary clearance or permit from the station commander of the Philippine National Police,” read part of the EO.
The EO’s goal is to enforce the Anti-Fencing Law of 1979 (Presidential Decree 1612) which defines and punishes “fencing,” or the act of any person who, with intent to gain for himself or for another, shall buy, receive, possess, keep, acquire, conceal, sell, or shall buy and sell, an item which he knows, or should be known to him, to have been derived from the proceeds of robbery or theft.
Section 5 of Presidential Decree 1612 provides a presumption that mere possession of any good, article, item, object, or anything of value, which has been the subject of robbery or thievery, shall be prima facie evidence of fencing. In other words, a person found in possession of stolen property has the burden to show that he did not know or could not have known that the property was stolen, and there is no intent to gain on his part.
“Kun kamo may kilala nga naga-violate sang aton EO No. 015 please let me know and they will be dealt with accordingly,” Benitez said./PN
