SECTION 1. An
export tax of ten per cent is hereby imposed upon all Mexican money
hereafter exported from the Philippine Islands, provided that this Act
shall not apply to any sum not exceeding twenty-five dollars in Mexican
money carried by a person departing from the Islands.
Sec. 2. All Mexican money exported, or attempted
to be exported, from the Islands, in violation of this Act shall be
forfeited to the Government in the manner hereinafter provided.
Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the customs
officials to seize all Mexican money attempted to be exported without
payment of the tax herein imposed, and to hold the same until disposed
of by order of court. The Collector of Customs for the Islands shall
immediately cause proceedings to be instituted, in provost court of the
city of Manila, organized under General Order Number Sixty-four, of the
headquarters Division of the Philippines, issued August tenth, nineteen
hundred, against the money so seized, to enforce the forfeiture herein
prescribed. If the owner of the money is known, and is within the
Islands, he shall be summoned to show cause in said court why the
forfeiture should not be decreed. If he is unknown, or is not within
the Philippine Islands, he shall be notified of the pendency of such
proceedings by publishing a notice of once a week, for three successive
weeks, in two daily papers published one in the English language and
one in the Spanish language, in the city of Manila, which notice shall
state the amount of money seized, the time and place and cause of
seizure, and the time and place of the trial. If upon trial it shall be
established that the money was being exported, or that the attempt was
being made to export it, without payment of the tax herein imposed, a
decree of forfeiture shall be entered. If these facts are not
established, a decree shall be rendered for the return of the money to
its owner.
Sec. 4. Any person exporting, or attempting to
export, Mexican money without payment of the tax hereby imposed, shall
also be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or to an
imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, in the discretion of
the court. All proceedings for the enforcement of the penalties herein
prescribed shall be in the provost court mentioned in section three of
this Act.
Sec. 5. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
|