carnapping...

Please I need some legal advise yong friend ko involved sa carnapping which is siya lang ang binabagsakan sa mga bikes at saka siya ang naghahanap ng mga buyers ngayun may naka pag tipped ngayon hinuhuli na sila at nagtatago na sila. My question is ano ang sentensya sa friend ko na bibagsakan ng bikes. Dapat ba na magreport na lang siya sa police to clarify his name at maghire siya ng lawyer to depend him?
Thanks

If your friend is charged with carnapping and after trial, he is found guilty, the following shall be the penalty as provided for under Section 14 of RA 6539 as amended by Section 20 of RA 7659:

“Sec. 14. Penalty for Carnapping.- Any person who is found guilty of carnapping, as this term is defined in Section Two of this Act, shall, irrespective of the value of motor vehicle taken, be punished by imprisonment for not less than fourteen years and eight months and not more than seventeen years and four months, when the carnapping is committed without violence or intimidation of persons, or force upon things; and by imprisonment for not less than seventeen years and four months and not more than thirty years, when the carnapping is committed by means of violence against or intimidation of any person, or force upon things; and the penalty of reclusion perpetua to death shall be imposed when the owner, driver or occupant of the carnapped motor vehicle is killed or raped in the course of the commission of the carnapping or on the occasion thereof.”

If your friend is charged with violation of the Anti-Fencing law and later on, he is found guilty of the said crime, the penalty that will be imposed will depend on the value of the property stolen. If the value is > 12k but < 22k, the penalty is prision mayor (6 years 1 day to 12 years). If value > 22k, the penalty shall be the maximum period, adding 1 year for each additional 10k. But the total penalty shall not exceed 20 years. Therefore, the imposable penalty for violation of the Anti-Fencing Law can be as high as reclusion temporal (12 years 1 day to 20 years).

Note that under the Anti-Fencing Law, fencing is defined as “the act of any person who, with intent to gain for himself or for another, shall buy, receive, possess, keep, acquire, conceal, sell or dispose of, or shall buy and sell, or in any other manner deal in any article, item, object or anything of value which he knows, or should be known to him, to have been derived from the proceeds of the crime of robbery or theft.”