Junkshop permit requirements and record books in the Philippines

There's no single national junkshop ordinance in the Philippines. What your yard has to keep depends on one national law, the Anti-Fencing Law, and on the city where you operate. Some cities ask for two record books and a police report within 24 hours. Others ask for a daily volume log. Some ask for no records at all.

This guide sums up what the law and the city ordinances we've read say, with section numbers, so you can check them yourself. Your city hall and your local police station have the final word.

A summary, not legal advice. Checked October 1 and 2, 2026.

The national rule: the Anti-Fencing Law

Presidential Decree No. 1612, the Anti-Fencing Law of 1979, makes it a crime to buy, keep or sell anything you know, or should have known, came from robbery or theft. Section 5 goes further: mere possession of stolen goods is prima facie evidence of fencing. In practice, you need to be able to show where each load came from.

Section 6 asks every store that deals in goods from an unlicensed dealer or supplier to get a clearance or permit from the police station commander before selling them. The implementing rules add the paperwork:

• An initial affidavit, then a new one every 15 days, filed within 5 days after each period.
• Each affidavit lists the articles acquired every day, and the names and addresses of the people you got them from.
• The station commander acts on an application within 72 hours, and no fee is charged.
• Skipping the clearance, or breaking the rules, is punished as fencing.

Whether a junkshop that buys from households counts as dealing with an unlicensed supplier is a question for your lawyer and your police station. Some cities settle it for you. Valenzuela lists an anti-fencing certificate for junkshops, issued by the police, among the requirements for new and renewed business permits.

What cities ask for before you open

Every city we've read starts with a business permit from city hall. On top of it, each adds its own steps:

• Naga City: 13 documents filed at the City Planning and Development Office, including a sworn information sheet that says whether you've been sued or convicted of a crime, and a notarised undertaking that allows unannounced inspection of your transaction books. A team from five city offices inspects the site before the permit goes ahead.
• Pasig: a Clearance to Operate from the Solid Waste Management Office, before the business permit. The office's charter lists a ₱500 inspection fee and a ₱1,000 accreditation fee.
• Valenzuela: the police anti-fencing certificate, for new and renewed permits.
• Bacolod: for the city environment office's clearance, a book of stocks and an affidavit that you won't buy used lead acid batteries.
• Makati: a sanitary permit from the City Health Office for any junk dealership.
• Olongapo: a barangay clearance, a Permit to Operate from ESMO, a business permit, a fire inspection certificate, a sanitary permit and a locational clearance.

Record books: two ledgers, a daily log, or nothing

Record rules vary the most from city to city.

Naga City asks for the most. Ordinance No. 2008-056 requires two transaction books, one for purchases and one for sales. Both must be presented to and accredited by the Naga City PNP and the Public Safety Office before you use them. They stay open to inspection during business hours and must be kept for at least three years after the last entry.

Pasig and Mandaluyong ask for a daily log instead. Pasig's solid waste code asks operators to record the volume of each type of recyclable collected every day and send a written report to the Solid Waste Management Office every month. Mandaluyong's code asks for the same daily volumes, reported monthly to the City Environmental Management Department. A business that skips its monthly waste report there risks not getting its license renewed.

Manila has one of the oldest rules. A 1962 amendment to the city's compiled ordinances, under the heading for second-hand dealers and keepers of junk shops, asks owners to send the Chief of Police a daily report of all articles purchased, with the names and addresses of the sellers. We couldn't confirm how it's applied today.

Bacolod's environment office asks for a book of stocks at permit time, without saying what goes in it. Marikina's ordinance asks for proper keeping of all records to meet local and national requirements, with no fields listed, and asks traders to sell what they acquire within the day.

Some cities have no record rule we could find. Olongapo's 2023 junk dealers' ordinance covers carts, hours and yards, but not purchase books or police reports. Cebu City councilors proposed transaction books in 2011 and a logbook in 2012, and we found no sign that either passed.

Seller IDs and where the material came from

Where a city asks for seller details, Naga's purchase book is the fullest list. For every purchase it asks for:

• The seller's name, address, sex and age
• The seller's driver's license or other valid ID, plus an updated community tax certificate
• The date, time and place you bought the materials
• A description and the quantity of the materials
• The name and address of whoever the seller got them from, if anyone

The sales book asks for the same details about each buyer, with the date, time and place of the sale or delivery. Even where your city asks for less, these fields match what the Anti-Fencing Law's affidavits cover: what came in each day, and from whom.

Regulated materials and the 24-hour report

Cities single out the materials most often stolen from utilities and public places. Naga's ordinance calls these regulated materials:

• Copper, brass, bronze and aluminum used by power, telecom and water utilities
• Railway parts, and parts of any vehicle, public or private
• Street signs and markers, drainage covers and street lighting materials
• Metal markers, fences and railings from historic sites, public places and cemeteries

Naga asks you to stockpile these apart from other junk, and to report each purchase to the Naga City PNP and the Public Safety Office within 24 hours, in writing or at least by phone.

Other places ban them outright. Pasig's code prohibits buying or selling scrap that is government or public utility property, such as meter bases, electric cable and water pipe, and prosecutes it under the Anti-Fencing Law. A 1974 Manila ordinance makes it unlawful for scrap dealers to acquire manhole and catch basin covers and frames. Nationally, Republic Act No. 7832 makes it a crime to keep materials from power transmission lines of 69 kilovolts and up without the owner's consent, punished by reclusion temporal, a fine of ₱50,000 to ₱100,000, or both.

Batteries are another risk. In July 2023, Bacolod closed a junk shop and moved to revoke its permit after finding stored telco batteries but no hazardous waste papers from DENR.

What it costs to get it wrong

• Naga City: ₱5,000 for a first violation of the book or reporting rules. A second brings another ₱5,000, permanent revocation of the business permit and confiscation of junk.
• Pasig: ₱5,000, then ₱10,000, then ₱15,000 for junkshop owners who break the code's rules, with the permit and license cancelled on the third offense.
• Mandaluyong: at least ₱5,000 and/or 15 days to six months in jail for breaking the junk shop obligations, which include the daily record.

How to keep records that hold up

Whatever your city asks, the same habits cover most of it:

• Record every purchase when it happens, at the scale, with a ticket number.
• Note the seller, the material, the weight and the price on every ticket.
• Check an ID for every seller, and ask where they got the material.
• Keep regulated materials apart, and flag them so you can report them on time.
• Total each material's volume every day, in case your city wants a daily log or a monthly report.
• Keep everything for at least three years. That's Naga's minimum, and a safe floor anywhere.

Before you move from paper to an app, ask your city hall whether digital records count. Naga's ordinance assumes paper books accredited by the PNP and PSO and says nothing about electronic records. Bacolod's checklist doesn't say what form its book of stocks should take.

ScrapTrack, our junkshop system, saves each weigh-in at the scale with a ticket number, the supplier, the material, the weight and the price per kilo, and keeps stock by material and daily totals. It doesn't replace books your city must accredit, it has no seller ID field yet, and it doesn't file reports for you. To see it with your own material list, book a ScrapTrack demo.

Sources

• Presidential Decree No. 1612, the Anti-Fencing Law, with its implementing rules, on Lawphil (lawphil.net). Checked October 2, 2026.
• Republic Act No. 7832, on Lawphil (lawphil.net). Checked October 2, 2026.
• Naga City Ordinance No. 2008-056, Sections 4, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 18, Naga City website (naga.gov.ph). Checked October 2, 2026.
• Pasig City Ordinance No. 01, Series of 2018, Sections 29, 43, 44 and 45, and the Solid Waste Management Office Citizen's Charter (pasigcity.gov.ph). Checked October 1, 2026.
• Mandaluyong City Ordinance No. 668, S-2017, Sections 28 to 31 and its penalty table (mandaluyong.gov.ph). Checked October 1, 2026.
• City of Manila Ordinance No. 4509 (1962), City Council of Manila (citycouncilofmanila.com.ph). Checked October 2, 2026. Ordinance No. 7581 (1974), same site. Checked October 1, 2026.
• Valenzuela City, business permit requirements (valenzuela.gov.ph). Checked October 2, 2026.
• Bacolod City Environment and Natural Resources Office Citizen's Charter, 2024 (bacolodcity.gov.ph). Checked October 2, 2026. SunStar Bacolod and Visayan Daily Star, July 7, 2023. Checked October 1, 2026.
• Makati City Ordinance No. 2019-A-102, Sections 149 to 153 (makati.gov.ph). Checked October 1, 2026.
• Marikina City Ordinance No. 057, Series of 2014, Section 3 (bplo.marikina.gov.ph). Checked October 1, 2026.
• Olongapo City Ordinance No. 16, Series of 2023, Section 4 (olongapocity.gov.ph). Checked October 1, 2026.
• Cebu City proposals: Inquirer Global Nation, May 7, 2011, and Philstar, April 22, 2012. Checked October 1, 2026.