Finder of valuables urged to return items to city, mayor

Saturday, January 21, 2012

WHOEVER finds something that is abandoned cannot claim it for himself.

The idiom “finders keepers” may not be applicable to the case of the scavengers who found pieces of jewelry in Umapad dumpsite in Mandaue City last Jan. 12.

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The jewelry was estimated to be worth P2 million.

Judge Meinrado Paredes pointed out that Republic Act (RA) 386, or the Civil Code of the Philippines, provides that anyone who finds valuables has to turn the items over to the city or municipal mayor of the place where he found the treasures.

Otherwise, he can be held liable for theft charges, explained Paredes, presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 13.

Likewise, the finder who pawned or sold the valuables he discovered could still be held liable for the same offense.

Inocencio dela Cerna, counsel for the Tan family, however, said his clients have no plans to file charges against the scavengers.

Sec. 719 of RA 386 provides that “whoever finds a movable (thing), which is not treasure, must return it to its previous possessor.

If the latter is unknown, “the finder shall immediately deposit it with the mayor of the city or municipality where the finding has taken place.”

The city or town mayor shall announce in public for two consecutive weeks the found valuable.

The mayor may sell the valuables at public auction after the six-month period for publication of the found valuables lapses.

But if the owner of the item surfaces, he is required to pay the finder 10 percent of the total amount of recovered valuables, according to Articles 20 of RA 386.

The mayor can also sell the perishable items at public auction eight days after publication.