[ Act No. 864, September 02, 1903 ]
AN ACT TO AMEND ACT NUMBERED THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE, KNOWN AS THE "PHILIPPINE CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATIVE ACT," BY CHANGING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE COURT OF CUSTOMS APPEALS, PROVIDING FOR APPEALS IN CRIMINAL CAUSES AND FOR CERTIFICATES OF APPEAL IN OTHER CUSTOMS CASES WHERE THERE IS A DIVISION OF OPINION BETWEEN THE JUDGES OF THE COURT, AND SPECIFYING POWERS OF COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS IN CASES OF FINE AND FORFEITURE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission, that:
Section 1. Section two hundred and eighty-seven of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five, entitled "An Act to constitute the Customs Service of the Philippine Archipelago and to provide for the administration thereof," is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 287. If the decision of the Insular Collector, acting either, as collector of customs for the port of Manila, or on appeal to him from a collector of customs, shall be adverse to the claim of the owner, importer, consignee, or agent of the merchandise, or of the person paying to the collector of customs fees, charges, and exactions other than duties, the owner, importer, consignee, or agent, or the person paying the fees, charges, and exactions may, within five days, exclusive of Sundays and holidays, after notification in writing to him by the collector of customs of such adverse decision of appeal therefrom to the Court of Customs Appeal by giving notice in writing to the collector of customs of his or their dissatisfaction with such adverse decision, which notice shall be forthwith transmitted by the collector of customs to the Insular Collector, who shall thereupon forthwith and transmit to the clerk of the Court of Customs Appeals such notice of appeal, together with the entry, invoices, and exhibits, and all officer papers connected therewith, and his decision thereon, and the court shall proceed, upon notice to the appealing party and to the Attorney-General, to examine the case submitted, and the decision shall be final, except in cases which are certified to the Supreme Court of the Islands, as provided in section two hundred and eighty-eight of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five, as amended be in case the decision of the Insular Collector, acting in his capacity as collector of customs for the port of Manila or upon appeal to him from a collector of customs, shall be adverse to the Government on the matter at issue, and the Secretary of Finance and Justice shall certify in writing that in his opinion such decision ought to he revised by the Court of Customs Appeals, it shall be thereupon the duty of the Insular Collector to certify and transmit his decision, together with the entry, invoices, and exhibits, and all other papers connected therewith, to the clerk of the Court of Customs Appeals, and that court shall, upon notice to the Attorney-General and to all parties interested, reexamine and determine the case as last above provided, and its decision shall be final, except in cases which arc certified to the Supreme Court of the Islands as provided in section two hundred and eighty-eight of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five, as amended."
Section 2. Section two hundred and eighty-eight of said Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 288. The evidence taken before either the collector of customs or the Insular Collector may, if competent, be used before said court, and said court may receive further evidence pertinent to the issue. The court may make general rules governing the proceedings before it. Costs may be allowed to the Government or to the adverse party, in the discretion of the court, but such costs shall not exceed those allowed to parties in actions pending in the Supreme Court for the Philippine Islands, as established by the Code of Procedure in Civil Actions and Special Proceedings. The court shall have the power to determine all questions arising in the appeal, including the question as to whether any duty exaction, or fee can lawfully be imposed. The remedy by appeal to the Court of Customs Appeals is exclusive of all other remedies upon all questions relating to the customs duties, or the administration thereof under this Act. No right of action shall exist on the part of the owner, importer, exporter, or consignee to recover back any duties, fees, or exactions by him or them paid, except by means of appeal in accordance with the provisions of said section two hundred and eighty-seven, as amended. No appeal shall be to the Supreme Court of the Islands from the judgment of the Court of Customs Appeals under said section two hundred and eighty-seven, as amended, except in a ease where the two judges of the Court of Customs Appeals shall disagree as to any decision, in which case they shall certify the fact of their disagreement and the record to the Supreme Court of the Islands, which shall thereupon proceed to examine the ease and issue a mandate to the Court of Customs Appeals as to the judgment which should be entered, and, except a case m which the Secretary of Finance and Justice shall certify that the public interests require a reexamination of certain questions arising therein by the Supreme Court, in which case the judges of the Court of Customs Appeals shall send up the entire record to the Supreme Court which shall consider and decide the questions presented by the certificate of the Secretary of Finance and Justice if, in the opinion of the Supreme Court, the record presents for decision the certified questions, and shall issue a mandate to the Court of Customs Appeals to enter judgment in accordance with its decision."
Section 3. Section two hundred and eighty-nine of said Act is hereby amended to read as follows:
"Section 289. The Court of Customs Appeals shall consist of two judges, to be appointed by the Civil Governor, with the advice and consent of the Philippine Commission. The members of the court shall receive a compensation of four thousand five hundred dollars per annum, in money of the United States. Both members shall possess the qualifications required by law for judges of the Supreme Court, and they may be required to perform the duties of judges of Courts of First Instance in any province in the Islands, or in the city of Manila, when directed in writing by the Civil Governor to do so, in which case their acts, proceedings, and judgments shall be of equal validity as though they were the acts, proceedings, and judgments oil the regular judge of the Court of First instance. Judges of the Court of Customs Appeals shall have t power to administer oaths, and, as to proceedings pending before it, the court shall have all the powers of the Supreme Court for the Philippine Islands, as defined in Acts Numbered One hundred and thirty-six and One hundred and ninety. It shall be a court of record and have a seal. One judge shall constitute the court for the trial of all criminal causes, but, in all other cases, appeals, or questions before the Court of Customs Appeals, the court shall consist of two judges. Whenever the Insular Collector so requests it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General, or some person detailed from his office for that purpose, to aid the Insular Collector in the presentation of cases before the Court of Customs Appeals. The judges shall, before entering upon the performance of their dirties, take the oath required by law to he taken by judicial officers. There shall he a clerk of the court, who may be required to act also as interpreter, to be appointed by the Attorney-General, with the" approval of the Secretary of Finance and Justice', and his successor shall be appointed, subject to the rules of the civil service, by the same appointing power. He shall receive a salary of one thousand six hundred dollars per annum, in money of the United States. The clerk may employ such deputies, clerical assistants, typewriters," stenographers, and messengers, and at such salaries as the Attorney-General shall authorize, with the approval of the Secretary of Finance and Justice. Said court shall be deemed to be always open."
Section 4. Sections two hundred and ninety and two hundred and ninety-one of the Customs Administrative Act are hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof the following is substituted:
"Section 290. The Court of Customs Appeals shall have jurisdiction concurrent with that of the Courts of First Instance to consider all criminal prosecutions begun under this Act and under the immigration laws of the Philippine Islands, including the Act of Congress approved March third, nineteen hundred and three, entitled 'An Act to regulate the immigration of aliens into the United States,' and the Chinese Exclusion Acts, and under the customs and navigation laws; and the procedure in such cases shall be the same as in criminal causes in Courts of First Instance. The court first taking jurisdiction hereunder shall thereafter have exclusive jurisdiction of the prosecution thus begun. From a judgment of the Court of Customs Appeals in criminal causes there shall be right of appeal to the Supreme Court in every case in which the penalty of imprisonment or a fine exceeding six hundred Philippine pesos, exclusive of costs, is adjudged against the defendant. In all other criminal cases, including those in which a fine of six hundred pesos or less is adjudged or in which imprisonment is adjudged in default of payment of the line, the judgment of the Court of Customs Appeals shall be final."
Section 5. Section three hundred and thirteen of the Customs Administrative Act is herein repealed, and the following sections, numbered three hundred and thirteen, three hundred and thirteen a, and three hundred and thirteen b, are substituted in lieu thereof:
"Section 313. Whenever in the judgment of the collector of customs there has been a violation of this Act, or of any customs, navigation, immigration, or exclusion Act. subjecting any merchandise, vessel, animal, or other property to the satisfaction of a line, penalty, confiscation, or forfeiture, the collector of customs shall seize the property, proceeding as in section three hundred and thirty-four of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five, and shall notify the owner of the merchandise, vessel, animal, or other property, or his agent in possession, in writing, of the fact, giving to such person or owner or agent an opportunity to be heard in reference to the offenses charged, and after such hearing the collector of customs shall fix, in writing, the fine or penalty which in his judgment ought to be imposed and the description and value of the merchandise, vessel, animal, or other property which should be confiscated or forfeited. The collector shall at the same time issue a warrant for the detention of the offending merchandise, vessel, animal, or other property, and shall fix the bond, upon the giving of which, with good and sufficient surety or sureties, to he approved by the collector issuing the warrant", the merchandise, vessel, animal, or other property may be released. If the owner or agent of the property offending shall desire to pay the fine fixed or the value of the property seized for confiscation or forfeiture as appraised and fixed by the collector, the collector may receive the amount from the person or owner in compromise of the liability, to he accounted for as other collections of his office, and may give the person paying a release in full for the same, together with possession of the property or cancellation of the bond. If these proceedings take place and the seizure is made at any port except that of Manila, the person whose property is seized may forthwith appeal to the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands at Manila by filing with him a certified copy of the proceedings by the collector of the port of seizure and such additional evidence as he may desire. The Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands, upon such appeal, may reverse the action of his subordinate, modify or approve the same, and in like manner may accept a compromise and, upon payment of the sum fixed, issue a release of the liability and property or bond.1aшphi1 In cases appealed from the collectors of customs other than the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands at Manila,, and in cases arising at Manila, if no compromise is effected with the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands, then and in that case it shall be the duty of the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands forthwith, on receiving notice from the person or agent whose property has been seized that he will not consent to a compromise, to file a record of all the proceedings in the Court of Customs Appeals, with a petition reciting the facts, asking the judgment of the; court upon the issue of fine or penalty or confiscation or forfeiture, and praying, upon judgment, for a public sale of the seized property after due advertisement to satisfy the judgment. Process shall issue against the owner or agent in possession of the property, and the pleadings and procedure shall be, as in other cases, in the Court of Customs Appeals, of a summary character regulated by orders of the court. The sale, if ordered, shall take place in the district of seizure after four weeks posting of notice thereof at the door of the office of the collector of customs of the district and the publication once a week for four weeks of notice in any newspaper of general circulation in the district of seizure, if any, and also after publication, in the discretion of the court, of the same number of notices in a newspaper of general circulation in Manila. The judgment of the court in such proceedings shall be limited to one in rein against the property seized. Criminal proceedings against the person offending shall be prosecuted under section two hundred and ninety. Nothing herein contained shall prevent the collector of customs from instituting ordinary criminal proceedings for violation of this Act, the customs laws, and the Immigration and Chinese Exclusion Acts, in the proper Court of First Instance or in the Court of Customs Appeals, under section two hundred and ninety, as amended above.1aшphi1 Should the Collector of Customs for the Philippine Islands not file a record of his proceedings, together with the petition, in the Court of Customs Appeals within fifteen days after receiving notice from the person whose property is seized or his agent in possession that he will not compromise the case, the owner shall be relieved from liability for the fine, penalty, confiscation, or forfeiture sought, so far as the property is concerned, and his property, merchandise, or vessel shall be delivered back into his control, or, if a bond has been given, it shall be canceled.
"Section 313 a. If, within ten days after the seizure, in cases k described under section three hundred and thirteen, no owner or agent can bo found or appears to claim the property, the collector seizing the property shall proceed as if the real owners had declined to compromise, and the Insular Collector shall file a record of the proceedings in the Court of Customs Appeals, and process shall issue thereon, to be served by publication, by notice posted for two weeks at the door of the office of the collector of customs for the customs district in which the seizure was made, and published once a week for four successive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation in the province or city where the seizure was made, if any, or such other notice as the court may order, which notice shall describe the articles seized, the time, cause, and place of seizure, and the nature of the pending proceeding, and require all persons claimin oan interest in the property to appear and defend against the remedy prayed for or to be forever barred, and thereafter the decree and the nature of the proceedings shall be the same as provided in section three hundred and thirteen as amended.
"Section 313 b. The judgment of the Court of Customs Appeals in cases brought to a hearing under section three hundred and thirteen, as above amended, shall be final in all cases in which the fine, penalty confiscation, or forfeiture might not, under the statute or by the appraisement and estimate fixed in the proceedings of the collector have exceeded two thousand dollars. In all other cases under c said section an appeal may be taken by the owner of the condemned or confiscated property or his agent from the Judgment of the Court of Customs Appeals to the Supreme Court of the Islands, which shall be taken in the same manner and shall be governed by the same procedure as appeals to the Supreme Court from Courts of First instance: Provided, however, That no appeal shall be permitted unless notice of the same shall be filed in the clerk's office of the Court of Customs Appeals within ten days after the entry of the judgment appealed from: And provided, That no bill of exceptions shall be valid unless allowed and signed by both of the judges of said court within thirty days after the entry of the judgment appealed from."
Section 6. Section three hundred and thirty-nine of Act Numbered Three hundred and thirty-five is hereby amended by striking out all the section after the words such seizure and intended sale in the fourteenth line of the section, and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "The proceeds of the sale shall be deposited with the Insular Treasurer as a special deposit and take the place of the property seized and sold for disposition by decree of the Court of Customs Appeals.
Section 7. Sections three hundred and forty-four and throe hundred and forty-five of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five, as amended by Act Numbered Six hundred and Thirty-three, are hereby repealed and the following substituted therefor:
"Section 344. All criminal violations, by any person, of this Act or of the other Acts mentioned in section two hundred and ninety, as above amended, shall be prosecuted by order and under the supervision of the Insular Collector. Such violations shall be reported by the collector in whose district the violation occurred, either to the proper prosecuting officer of the province where the violation occurred, for prosecution in the proper Court of First Instance, or through the Insular Collector to the Attorney-General for prosecution in the Court of Customs Appeals, and, where lines or penalties are imposed by law for such violations and the Insular Collector shall certify that they can not be satisfied out of property seized under the proceedings in rein provided in section three hundred and thirteen, as amended, and sections three hundred and thirteen a and three hundred and thirteen b herein, they may, in the discretion of the trial court, be made part of the sentence in the criminal proceedings against the offender, if convicted. In such cases the judgment shall provide for imprisonment at hard labor until the fine or penalty is paid, together with the costs of prosecution, either in money or by labor, at not less than forty centavos, Philippine currency, a day, the rate to be fixed by the court imposing sentence."
Section 8. The Court of Customs Appeals as at present constituted by law shall continue to act in all cases in which at the date of the passage of this Act the evidence has been submitted to the court and which are pending either on argument or are awaiting decision. All other suits or criminal prosecutions pending shall be tried by the Court of Customs Appeals as constituted by this Act, and appeals from judgments therein as provided in this Act shall be allowed.
Section 9. Section two hundred and twenty-five of said Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five is hereby amended by striking out paragraph four thereof.
Section 10. Section two hundred and eighty-two of said Act Numbered Three hundred aiul fifty-five is hereby amended by striking out of the fifth and sixth lines thereof the words: "and all seized or confiscated goods, wares, or merchandise."
Section 11. Section one hundred and fifty of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five is hereby amended by striking out in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth lines thereof the following words: "and the vessel against which a penalty is assessed as herein provided shall be held by the customs officials until the same is paid," and by inserting in lieu thereof the following: "and the collector shall proceed against such vessel for the collection of the penalty by seizure and such other steps as are provided in section three hundred and thirteen of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five, as amended, and by sections three hundred and thirteen a and three hundred and thirteen b of this Act."
Section 12. Section one hundred and fifty-two of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five is hereby amended by striking out of said section all after the words "one thousand dollars" and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "and the seizure and proceedings shall be as provided in sections three hundred and thirteen, as amended, three hundred and thirteen a and three hundred and thirteen b."
Section 13. Section one hundred and fifty-four of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five is hereby amended by striking out the last sixteen words of the section as follows: "and the vessel shall be held until the penalty imposed on the master has been satisfied," and there is hereby inserted in lieu thereof the following: "and the vessel shall be subject to the payment of the fine and may be proceeded against by seizure and the other steps provided in section three hundred and thirteen of Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five, as amended, and in sections three hundred and thirteen a, and three hundred and thirteen b of this Act."
Section 14. Sections one hundred and fifty-three, one hundred and eighty-two, three hundred and thirty-five, three hundred and thirty-six, three hundred and thirty-seven, and three hundred and thirty-eight of said Act Numbered Three hundred and fifty-five and all other provisions of said Act or any other Act inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed.
Section 15. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.
Section 16. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
Enacted, September 2, 1903.
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