REPUBLIC ACT NO. 5490 - AN
ACT MAKING MARIVELES, PROVINCE OF BATAAN, A PORT OF ENTRY BY AMENDING
SECTION SEVEN HUNDRED ONE OF THE TARIFF AND CUSTOMS CODE OF THE
PHILIPPINES, AS AMENDED, PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT, OPERATION AND
MAINTENANCE OF A FOREIGN TRADE ZONE THEREIN; CREATING A FOREIGN TRADE
ZONE AUTHORITY; AND AUTHORIZING THE APPROPRIATION OF THE NECESSARY
FUNDS THEREFOR
Section 1. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared to
be the policy of the government to stimulate, expedite, encourage and
promote foreign commerce as a means of making the Philippines a vital
center of international trade, of strengthening our foreign exchange
position, of hastening industrialization, of overcoming domestic
unemployment, of accelerating the development of the country and of
insuring the economic security of all the people as provided in the
Constitution.
Sec. 2. Mariveles Port: establishment of foreign
trade zone therein: admission of foreign and domestic merchandise. — To
attain the above policy, Mariveles, Province of Bataan, is hereby made
a principal port of entry by further amending section seven hundred one
of Republic Act Numbered Nineteen hundred thirty-seven, otherwise known
as the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, as amended, to read
as follows:
"701. Collection Districts and Ports of Entry
therefor. — For administrative purposes, the Philippines shall be
divided into as many collection districts as there are at present
existing, the respective limits of which may be changed from time to
time by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Customs, upon approval of the
department head. The principal ports of entry for the respective
collection districts shall be Manila, Sual, Tabaco, Cebu, Pulupandan,
Sia-in, Iloilo, Davao, Legaspi, Zamboanga, Jolo, Aparri, Jose
Panganiban, Cagayan, Tacloban, San Fernando, Hinigaran, Dumaguete City,
San Jose, Maasin, Maao, Iligan City, Batangas, Bulatay, Supang, Virac,
Cabugao, Gaang, Dagupan City, Bislig, Catbalogan, Surigao and
Mariveles."
There is hereby established in the Mariveles Port a foreign trade zone
herein referred to as the Zone. Foreign and domestic merchandise of
every description, except such as is prohibited by law, may, without
being subject to the customs and internal revenue laws and regulations
of the Philippines, except as otherwise provided in this Act, be
brought into and Zone and may be stored, sold, exhibited, broken up,
repacked, assembled, distributed, sorted, graded, cleaned, mixed with
foreign or domestic merchandise, or otherwise manipulated, or be
manufactured except as otherwise provided in this Act, and be exported,
destroyed or sent into customs territory of the Philippines therefrom,
in the original package or otherwise, under the following terms and
conditions:
(1) When foreign merchandise is sent from the Zone
into the customs territory of the Philippines, it shall be subject to
the laws and regulations of the Philippines affecting imported
merchandise;
(2) Whenever the privilege shall be requested and
there has been no manipulation or manufacture effecting a change in
tariff classification, the Commissioner of Customs, shall take under
supervision any lot or part of a lot of foreign merchandise in the
Zone, cause it to be appraised and taxes determined and duties
liquidated thereon. Merchandise so taken under supervision may be
stored, manipulated, or manufactured under the supervision and
regulation prescribed by the Secretary of Finance, and whether mixed or
manufactured with domestic merchandise or not may, under regulation
prescribed by the Secretary of Finance, be exported or destroyed, or
may be sent in customs territory upon the payment of such liquidated
duties and determined taxes thereon. If merchandise so taken under
supervision has been manipulated or manufactured, such duties and taxes
shall be payable on the quantity of such foreign merchandise used in
the manipulation, or manufacture of the entered article. Allowance
shall be made for recoverable and irrevocable waste; and if recoverable
waste is sent into customs territory, it shall be dutiable and taxable
in its condition and quantity and at its weight at the time of entry.
Where two or more products result from the manipulation or manufacture
of merchandise in the Zone; the liquidated duties and determined taxes
shall be distributed to several products in accordance with their
relative value at the time of separation with the due allowances for
waste as provided for above;
(3) Subject to such regulations respecting identity
and the safeguarding of the revenue as the Secretary of Finance may
deem necessary, articles, the growth, product, or manufacture of the
Philippines, on which all internal revenue taxes have been paid, if
subject thereto, and articles previously imported on which duty and/or
tax has been paid, or which have been admitted free of duty and tax,
may be taken into the Zone from the customs territory of the
Philippines, placed under the supervision of the Commissioner, and
whether or not they have been combined with or made part, while in said
Zone, of other articles, may be brought back thereto free of quotas,
duty, or tax;
(4) If in the opinion of the Secretary of Finance
their identity has been lost, such articles not be entitled to free
entry by reason of non-compliance with the requirements made hereunder
by the Secretary of Finance shall be treated when they re-enter customs
territory of the Philippines as foreign merchandise under the
provisions of the customs, tariff and internal revenue laws in force at
the time;
(5) Under the rules and regulations of the Secretary
of Finance, articles which have been taken into the Zone from customs
territory for the sole purpose of exportation, destruction (except
destruction of distilled spirits, wines and fermented liquors), or
storage shall be construed to be exported for the purpose of —
"(a) the draw-back warehousing and bonding, or any
other provisions of the Customs and Tariff Code of the Philippines, as
amended, and the regulations thereunder; and
"(b) the statutes and bonds exacted for the payment
of drawback, refund, or exception from liability for internal revenue
taxes and for purpose of the internal revenue laws generally and the
regulations thereunder. Such a transfer may also be considered an
exportation for the purpose of other laws and regulations in so far as
offices or agencies charged with the enforcement of those laws deem it
advisable. Such articles may not be returned to customs territory for
domestic consumption except where such return is in the public
interest.
(6) Articles produced or manufactured in the Zone and
exported therefrom shall on subsequent importation into the customs
territory of the Philippines be subject to the import laws applicable
to like articles manufactured in a foreign country except that articles
produced or manufactured in the Zone exclusively with the use of
domestic merchandise, the identity of which has been maintained in
accordance with the second condition of this section, may, on such
importation, be entered as Filipino goods returned.
Sec. 3. Creation of a Foreign Trade Zone
Authority. — A Foreign Trade Zone Authority, hereafter referred to as
Authority is hereby created to be composed of a Chairman and four
members who shall be appointed for a term of six years by the
President, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments:
Provided, That the terms of office of the first appointees shall be
fixed as follows: the Chairman shall be for six years, two members
shall be for four years, and the last two members shall be for two
years: Provided, further, That upon the expiration of his term, a
member shall serve as such until his successor shall have been
appointed and qualified: Provided, finally, That no vacancy shall be
filled except for the unexpired portion of any term. The Authority
shall hold its office in Mariveles.
No person shall be appointed as Chairman or member of the Foreign Trade
Zone Authority unless he is a citizen of the Philippines, of good moral
character and of unquestionable integrity and responsibility, and of
recognized competence in customs administration, taxation, economics,
commerce, and industry.
The Chairman shall receive a salary of twenty-four thousand pesos per
annum, and each member shall receive a salary of twenty thousand pesos
per annum.
Sec. 4. Powers and Duties. — The Foreign Trade
Zone Authority shall have the following powers and duties:
(a) To fix and delimit the site of the Zone which
shall at all times remain to be owned by the Government, and which
shall have a contiguous and adequate area with well defined and policed
boundaries, with adequate enclosures to segregate the Zone from the
customs territory for protection of revenues, together with suitable
provisions for ingress and egress of persons, conveyance, vessels and
merchandise sufficient for the purpose of this Act;
(b) To determine and regulate the enterprises to be
established within the port in order not to adversely affect the
operations of existing domestic industries outside the Zone, and to
operate the Zone as a public utility wherein all the rates and charges
for all services or privileges within the Zone shall be fair and
reasonable, and the Authority shall afford all who may apply for the
use of the Zone and its facilities and appurtenances uniform treatment
under like conditions subject to such treaties or commercial
conventions as are not enforced or may hereafter be made by the
Philippines with any foreign government from time to time;
(c) To direct the management, operation and
maintenance of the Zone and to provide necessary facilities and
appurtenances thereof;
(d) Upon application to grant, under uniform and
reasonable rates and regulations made thereunder, permit to persons,
firms, corporations or associations the use of the Zone and its
facilities, the privilege to erect such buildings and other structures
within the Zone as will meet their particular requirements: Provided,
That such permission shall not constitute a vested right as against the
government, nor interfere with the regulation of the Authority, nor
interfere with the complicate the revocation of the grant: Provided,
further, That such permits shall not be granted on terms that conflict
with the public use of the Zone as set forth in this Act;
(e) To authorize expenditures out of its net
operating income but not in excess of two hundred fifty thousand pesos,
in addition to its annual appropriations;
(f) To issue such rules and regulations not
inconsistent with the provisions of this Act or the rules and
regulations of the Secretary of Finance made hereunder and as may be
necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act;
(g) To appoint, fix remunerations, and remove for
cause all officers and employees; and
(h) To exercise all the powers necessary to attain
the purpose for which it is organized and for which this Act is
enacted.
Sec. 5. Assignment of customs officers and guards.
— The Secretary of Finance shall assign to the Zone the necessary
customs officers and guards to protect the revenue and provide for the
admission of foreign merchandise into customs territory.
Sec. 6. Vessels subject to Philippine laws. —
Vessels entering or leaving the Zone shall be subject to the operation
of all laws of the Philippines, except as otherwise provided in this
Act, and vessels leaving the Zone and arriving in customs territory of
the Philippines shall be subject to such regulations to protect the
revenue as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Finance.
Sec. 7. Annual Report. — The Authority shall
submit, within ten days from the opening of the regular session of
Congress, an annual report to the Presiding Officers of both Houses,
containing the details of the operation and fiscal condition of the
Zone and transmit copies of said report to all members of Congress.
Sec. 8. Promulgation of rules and regulations by
the Secretary of Finance. — The Secretary of Finance shall prescribe
within six months from the effectivity of this Act such rules and
regulations as may be necessary to carry out this Act.
Sec. 9. Penalties. — Any person violating any
provision of this Act or any of the rules and regulations promulgated
under Section four hereof, shall suffer the penalty of imprisonment of
not less than five years nor more than ten years and fine of not less
than five thousand pesos nor more than ten thousand pesos and, in
addition, such violation shall ipso facto constitute a valid ground for
the revocation of all privileges, permits and authorization granted to
such person under this Act: Provided, however, That if the offender is
a corporation, firm, partnership or association, the penalty shall be
imposed upon the guilty officer or officers as the case may be of the
corporation, firm or association, and if such guilty officer or
officers be alien or aliens, in addition to the penalties herein
prescribed, he or they shall be deported without further proceedings on
the part of the Deportation Board.
Any officer or employee of the Government who by himself or through his
agent, acting under his discretion and authority, shall connive, abet,
or tolerate the violation of the provisions of this Act or any rules
and regulations promulgated under Section four hereof or who fails to
report within thirty days any violation thereof to the fiscal or chief
of police in the place where the Zone is located shall suffer the
penalties prescribed in the preceding paragraph including perpetual
disqualification to hold public office.
The foregoing penalties shall be without prejudice to the assessment
and collection of such taxes and duties as may be due on the
foreign-made articles or merchandise which have been landed in the Zone
and have not been re-shipped to a foreign port at the time of the
revocation of the authority of the offender to operate within the Zone.
In the event such taxes and duties shall not for any reason be paid
upon demand by the Collector of Customs of the port within whose
collection district the Zone is located, the foreign-made articles or
merchandise of the offender remaining within such Zone at the time of
revocation of its authority to operate therein, including its physical
plants, machinery and equipment therein, shall, after due notice and
hearing, be forfeited in favor of the Government and may be disposed of
by the Government in the manner and for such purpose as it may so
desire.
SECTION 10. Appropriations. — To carry out the
purposes of this Act, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated,
out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated,
the sum of two hundred fifty thousand pesos for the fiscal year
nineteen hundred sixty-nine.
SECTION 11. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect
upon its approval.
Approved: June 21, 1969
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