Partylist lawmakers file bill to impound vehicles involved in accidents

Social Amelioration and Genuine Intervention on Poverty (SAGIP) Partylist Representatives Rodante Marcoleta and Caroline Tanchay recently filed a bill aimed at impounding vehicles involved in accidents that resulted to death or serious physical injuries due to reckless driving.

The two lawmakers filed House Bill No. 179 that, when approved into law, while make it mandatory for the court to hold the vehicle in custodia legis or require the owner or operator of the vehicle to post a cash bond.

Both lawmakers further define the subject of the proposed legislation as “pedestrians, daily commuters, transport-based earners, and innocent by-standers who are exposed to the hazards of reckless driving perpetrated by drivers of private motor vehicles as well as public transport systems.”

The two Partlylist Representatives, noting the flaw in our legal system, explained that while victims — those killed or seriously injured as a result of reckless driving — received favorable results in previous cases, the damages that should be awarded to the victims “could no longer be enforced” by the time judgment is rendered. Delays, usually in the form of appeals, mean that the victims “are left with no assets which could satisfy the adjudged civil damages” by the time a sentence is carried out.

A cash bond instead of a surety bond, SAGIP Partylist representatives said, “further strengthens the right of the aggrieved victim in the event of an award because it will be easier for him to enforce his right against the defendant or surety companies which customarily raise several defenses against the execution of judgments.”

Under the aforementioned proposal, any motor vehicle involved in a vehicular incident that results in the death or serious physical injury of a pedestrian, commuter, or by-stander, who is not a passenger of such vehicles, is to be impounded during any criminal or civil proceeding unless the driver, owner, or operator of the said vehicle posts a cash bond not less than P500,000.

The abovementioned cash bond will secure the satisfaction of any judgment that may be rendered by the court.

Should HB 179 becomes a law, victims of vehicular accidents will have security that they will receive some sort of reparation for the said incident. For motorists, the bill will serve as a reminder to be more careful when driving and that the law, indeed has a long arm.

Photos from Rodante Marcoleta’s Facebook page and Ruben D. Manahan IV

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