SEC. 208. No responsibility shall attach to the Government of the Philippine Islands for the loss or damage of any goods or merchandise by theft or otherwise while in the custody of officers of the customs for appraisal or transportation, nor after appraisal and awaiting delivery and no refund, or drawback of duties found to be due on goods or merchandise which may be damaged or destroyed by accidental causes, either in whole or in part, shall be allowed, except as is hereinafter provided.
SEC. 209. The Insular Collector is hereby authorized, upon satisfactory proof of the injury or destruction, in whole or in part, of any merchandise, by accidental fire, or other casualty while the same remains in the custody of officers of the customs in any public or private warehouse under bond, or in the appraiser's stores undergoing appraisal, in pursuance of law or regulation, or while in transportation under bond from the port of entry to any other port in the Philippine Islands, or while within the limits of any port of entry, and before the same has been landed under the supervision of the officers of the customs, to abate or refund, as the case may be, out of the money appropriated for the refund of duties, the amount of duties paid or accruing thereupon; and likewise to cancel any warehouse bond or bonds, or enter satisfaction thereon, in whole or in part, as the case may be.
SEC. 210. In no case shall there be any abatement of the duties or allowances made for any injury, damage, deterioration, loss, or leakage sustained by any merchandise while deposited in any public or private bonded warehouse. Duties based upon the weight of any merchandise so deposited shall be levied and collected upon the weight thereof at the time of its entry into the warehouses.
SEC. 211. No allowances shall be made in the estimation of duty for lost or missing packages appearing on the manifest, bill of lading, or invoice, unless shown, by proof satisfactory to the collector. not to have been originally laden on board or to have been destroyed by accident during the voyage.
SEC. 212. If such missing package should be found later, or should be returned by the same vessel, or other vessel of the same line, with sufficient proof that such package was carried away by error, the entry covering such missing package shall be forwarded to the appraiser's division for the proper appraisal of the goods.
When in such cases duties have been paid on packages which according to the official reports of the surveyor, have not been landed within three months from the date of the entry of the vessel on whose manifest such packages originally appeared, and the absence of such packages be satisfactorily accounted for, the duty collected upon such packages shall be refunded to the importer.
SEC. 213. Whenever the appraiser reports a deficiency in, or absence of part of the contents of a package as called for by the invoice, no allowance shall be made unless evidence satisfactory to the collector shall be produced that said shortage occurred before the arrival of the merchandise within the limits of a port of the Philippine Archipelago, due either to failure to pack the merchandise as invoiced, or through other causes arising prior to its importation into a port of the Philippine Islands; the burden of proof in such cases resting upon the importer. But no claim for damage occurring before arrival can be entertained, except in case of imported animals, satisfactorily explained to the collector. Dead animals upon which duty has been abated must be removed' as ordered by the collector, at the expense of the importer.
SEC. 214. The owner of any imported merchandise may, within ten days after entry, abandon to the Government of the Philippine Islands all or any portion of the goods, wares, and merchandise included in may invoice, and be relieved from the payment of duties on the portion so abandoned: Provided, That the portion so abandoned shall amount to ten per centum or over of the total value or quantity of the invoice; and the property so abandoned shall be sold at public auction or otherwise disposed of for the account and credit of the Government of the Philippine Islands, under such regulations as the Insular Collector shall prescribe. All merchandise so abandoned by the importer thereof shall be delivered by the importer at such place within the port of arrival as the collector of customs may direct; and on the failure of the importer to comply with the directions of the collector in this respect, the abandoned merchandise shall be disposed of by the collector at the expense of said importer.
SEC. 215. No abatement of duties will be made on account of, damages received during the voyage of importation, but duties will be assessed on the actual quantity imported, as shown by the returns of weighers, gangers, or measurers, or appraisers, as the case may be. And whenever the appraiser reports a deficiency in or absence of part of the contents of a package as called for by the invoice, no allowance shall be made unless evidence satisfactory to the collector shall be produced that said shortage occurred before the arrival of the merchandise in the Philippine Islands, the burden of proof in such cases resting upon the importer.
SEC. 216. If, on the opening of any package, a deficiency or absence of any article shall be found on examination by the appraisers, the same shall be certified to the collector on the invoice, and under the conditions prescribed in the preceding sections of this chapter, and allowance for the same be made in liquidating the duties.
SEC. 217. No allowance will be made in the assessment of duties for lost or missing packages appearing on the invoice, unless shown by the report of the customs discharging officer not to have been found on board of the importing vessel on discharging the cargo, and unless the person making the entry shall make oath on the form prescribed, and file the same with the collector. Such oaths must be stamped with the date of receipt at the custom-house.
When the collector is satisfied from the report of the discharging officer and the oath of the person making the entry that the packages specified therein have not been imported into the Philippine Islands, due allowance for such packages will be made.
"FORM OF OATH.
"I, ..................................., do hereby .............................. that I am the ............................... of the merchandise covered by invoice No. ..............................., entry No. .............................., per ............................... entered ..................................; that no packages or merchandise have been received by me, or by any person for my account or with my knowledge, to correspond to the following numbers and marks on said invoice, to wit: .............................; that I verily believe that none of the said packages and none of their contents have been imported into the Philippine Islands."
This oath will not be required where part of the contents of a package are missing, such case being covered by section two hundred and sixteen.
In all cases of allowances or abatements of duties as hereinbefore provided, collectors of customs shall cause an examination and report in writing to be made as to any facts discovered tending to account for the breakage of the package or extraction of the contents therefrom. And unless such report indicates that such breakage and loss occurred before the arrival of the package in the Philippine Islands, no allowance for missing articles shall be made.
SEC. 218. If a package be found by the examining officer to contain any article not specified in the invoice, and if the collector shall be of the opinion that such article was omitted from the invoice with fraudulent intent, the contents of the entire package will be liable to seizure and forfeiture. But when, in the opinion of the collector, no fraudulent intent is apparent, the dutiable value or quantity of the excess shall be added to the entry and duties paid accordingly.
Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines — Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
