Section 1. This Act shall be known by the short title of
"BONDED WAREHOUSE ACT."
Sec. 2. As used in this Act, the term "warehouse"
shall be deemed to mean every building, structure, or other protected
inclosure in which rice is kept for storage. The term "rice" shall be
deemed to mean either palay in bundles, or in grains, or clean rice, or
both. "Person" including corporation or partnership or two or more
persons having joint or common interest; "warehouseman" means a person
engaged in the business receiving rice for storage; and "receipt" means
any receipt issued by a warehouseman for rice delivered to him. For the
purpose of this Act, the business of receiving rice for storage shall
include (1) any contract or transaction wherein the warehouseman is
obligated to return the very same rice delivered to him or pay its
value;(2) any contract or transaction wherein the rice delivered is to
be milled for and on account of the owner thereof; (3) any contract or
transaction wherein the rice delivered is commingled with the rice
delivered by or belonging to other persons and the warehouseman is
obligated to return the rice of the same kind or pay its value.
Sec. 3. No person shall engage in the business of
receiving rice for storage without first securing a license therefore
from the Director of the Bureau of Commerce and Industry. Said license
shall be annual and shall expire on the thirty-first day of December.
Sec. 4. Any person applying for a license to
engage in the business of receiving rice for storage shall set forth in
the application the place or places where the business and warehouse
are to be established or located and the maximum quantity of rice to be
received. The application shall be accompanied by a cash bond or a bond
secured by real estate or signed by a duly authorized bonding company,
the amount of which shall be fixed by the Director of the Bureau of
Commerce and Industry at not less than thirty-three and one third
percent of the market value of the maximum quantity or rice to be
received. Said bond shall be so conditioned as to respond for the
market value of the rice actually delivered and received at any time
the warehouseman is unable to return the rice or to pay its value. The
bond shall be approved by the Director of the Bureau of Commerce and
Industry before issuing a license under this Act, to satisfy himself
concerning the sufficiency of such bond, and to determine whether the
warehouse for which such license is applied for is suitable for the
proper storage of rice.
Sec. 5. Whenever the Director of the Bureau of
Commerce and Industry shall determine that a bond approved by him, is
or any cause, has become insufficient, he may require an additional
bond or bonds to be given by the warehouseman concerned, conforming
with the requirements of the preceding section, and unless the same be
given within the time fixed by a written demand therefor the license of
such warehouse may be suspended or revoked.
Sec. 6. Every person licensed under this Act to
engage in the business of receiving rice for storage shall insure the
rice so received and stored against fire.
Sec. 7. Any person injured by the breach of any
obligation to secure which a bond is given, under the provisions of
this Act, shall be entitled to sue on the bond in his own name in any
court of competent jurisdiction to recover the damages he may have
sustained by such breach. Nothing contained herein shall except any
property of assets of any warehouseman from being sued on in case the
bond given is not sufficient to respond for the full market value of
the rice received by such warehouseman.
Sec. 8. Every warehouseman licensed under this Act
shall receive for storage, so far as his license and the capacity of
his warehouse permit, any rice, of the kind customarily stored therein
by him, which may be tendered to him in a suitable condition for
warehousing, in the usual manner and in the ordinary and usual course
of business, without making any discrimination between persons desiring
to avail themselves of warehouse facilities.
Sec. 9. Every warehouseman licensed under this Act
shall keep a complete record of the rice received by him, of the
receipts issued therefor of the withdrawals, of the liquidations and of
all receipts returned to and cancelled by him. He shall make reports to
the Director of Bureau of Commerce and Industry concerning his
warehouse and the conditions, contents, operations, and business
thereof in such form and at such time as the said Director may require,
and shall conduct said warehouse in all other respects in compliance
with this Act and the rules and regulations made in accordance
therewith.
Sec. 10. The Director of Bureau of Commerce and
Industry shall from time to time make such rules and regulations as he
may deem necessary for the efficient execution of the provisions of
this Act.
Sec. 11. Any person engaging in the business of
receiving rice for storage in violation of Section three of this Act
shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof
shall be punished by imprisonment of not less than one month or by a
fine of not more than five thousand pesos, or both, in the discretion
of the court.
Sec. 12. Any warehouseman licensed under this Act
receiving a quantity of rice greater than that specified in his
application and license, shall, upon conviction, be fined double the
market value of the rice so received in excess of the quantity of rice
he is authorized to receive.
Sec. 13. Any person entering into connivance or
combination with any warehouseman that is not licensed under this Act,
with the purpose of evading the provisions of section three of this
Act, shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than two hundred pesos or imprisonment
for not more than one months, or both, in the discretion of the court.
Sec. 14. The Director of the Bureau of Commerce
and Industry may, after opportunity for hearing has been afforded to
the license concerned, suspend or revoke any license issued to any
warehouseman, conducting a warehouse under this Act, for any violation
or failure to comply with any provision of this Act or of the rules and
regulations made by virtue thereof.
Sec. 15. This Act shall not be applicable to
cooperative marketing associations of rice producers organized under
Act Numbered Three Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty-five known as the
"Cooperative Marketing Law," provided such associations shall not
receive, for storage, rice from non-members which is greater in
quantity than one-half of the total quantity of rice received from
members, at any time.
Sec. 16. If any clause, sentence, or paragraph, or
part of this Act shall, for any reason, be adjusted by any court of
competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
his operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph or part thereof
directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have
been rendered.
Sec. 17. This Act shall take effect on January
First, nineteen hundred and thirty-two.
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