WHEREAS, Letter of Instruction No. 263 dated March 31, 1975 authorizes the Philippine Coast Guard to issue permits to salvage derelicts and sunken vessels or wrecks, and the Bureau of Customs to issue permits to salvage cargoes carried by sunken vessels;

WHEREAS, in order to ensure full and strict compliance with the said Letter of Instruction No. 263, it is necessary that certain penalties be provided for unauthorized salvage operations.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby decree and order:

SECTION 1. That henceforth it shall be unlawful for any person to engage in the business or operation of salvaging vessels, wrecks, derelicts and other hazards to navigation, or of salvaging cargoes carried by sunken vessels, without first securing the required salvage permit from competent authority pursuant to Letter of Instruction No. 263, and any violator hereof shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than P100.00 nor more than P500.00 or imprisonment for not less than thirty (30) days nor more than six (6) months, or both, at the discretion of the Court.

SEC. 2. If the offender is a juridical person, the President or the Manager, or any other official in charge of the management thereof, as the case maybe, shall suffer the penalties herein provided.

SEC. 3. Any watercraft, equipment, tools, paraphernalia or instruments used in the salvage of vessels, wrecks, derelicts, and other hazards to navigation, as well as the cargoes carried by the vessels which are recovered in violation hereof, shall be impounded and forfeited in favor of the government.

SEC. 4. Independently of the criminal liability herein provided, the Secretary of National Defense is hereby empowered to impose, in the exercise of his discretion, an administrative fine for violations hereof at such rates as may be fixed by him which in no case shall exceed the amount of P1,000.00.

Done in the City of Manila, this 9th day of February, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-six.