Act No. 2993




[ Act No. 2993, February 28, 1921 ] AN ACT EMPOWERING THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL TO PROHIBIT TEMPORARILY AND FOR A FIXED PERIOD THE IMPORTATION OF RICE. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Legislature assembled and by the authority of the same: Section 1. Whenever it is shown, after due investigation, that sufficient stocks of rice of local production are available for sale in the market and the normal consumption of said stocks is seriously hampered by the continued excessive importation of rice from abroad, the Governor-General, with the approval of the Council of State, may, not later than July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, issue a proclamation prohibiting temporarily and for a fixed period the importation of rice: Provided, That nothing in this section provided shall be understood to invalidate bonafide contracts for the purchase of rice from abroad existing on the date of the approval of the proclamation: Provided, further,That in order to prevent an undue rise in the prices of rice, the proclamation shall fix a price for said commodity which shall continue while said proclamation is in force and shall not be greater than the actual market price on the date of the publication of the said proclamation, but shall in no case exceed ten pesos for the cavan of fifty-seven and one-half kilos of first-class rice in Manila.ℒαwρhi৷ Section 2. The Governor-General, with the approval of the Council of State, may repeal the proclamation authorized in the preceding section in case the causes that gave rise to it are, upon further investigation, shown to have disappeared. Section 3. Any violation of the provisions of the proclamation authorized by this act shall punished by a fine of not more than five thousand pesos, or by imprisonment for not more than two years, or both, in the discretion of the court: Provided, That in the case of companies or corporations, the manager or aadministrator shall be criminally liable. Section 4. None of the provisions of this Act shall be construed to prohibit the Government from importing rice from abroad during the time that the proclamation referred to in section one of this Act is in effect. Section 5. This Act shall take effect immediately and shall remain in effect only until October sixteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-one. Approved, February 28, 1921. The Lawphil Project - Arellano Law Foundation