SEC. 351. Passengers' baggage shall be examined as soon as landed, except during the night time. Before dispatching the baggage the inspector shall ask the passenger if he has dutiable merchandise or effects to declare. The examination shall then be made in the presence of the owner or his representative, for the appraisal of such goods as may be dutiable within the amount, namely: Five hundred dollars prescribed in the following section.
The duties shall be made out in a stub book and, after being c duly liquidated, the amount of the same shall be paid to the cashier and the detached slips shall be subject to the same formalities as the regular entries. These detached slips shall be known as baggage declarations.
The passengers shall be searched only in case of extreme suspicion of fraud, and always with due regard to sex and class.
If, upon terminating the examination of the baggage, any packages remain whose owners do not appear to claim them, the collector shall order them weighed, strapped, and sealed, and sent to the warehouse for unclaimed goods, where they shall be subject to the same proceedings prescribed for unclaimed merchandise.
SEC. 352. In order to land passengers baggage it will be sufficient that the inspector in charge of the vessel sign the baggage manifest which the captain shall present to him, sending it to the chief of the passenger and baggage division, after comparing it with the number of packages which are disembarked.
Whenever it is deemed necessary, an inspector shall accompany the baggage to the wharf where it is to be examined, and the officer who makes the examination thereof shall certify to the same, and to its conformity, at the foot of said manifest.
After the filing of a bond guaranteeing their reembarkation the landing of sails, casks, chronometers, and other portion of the vessels equipment shall he permitted, in order that the same may be repaired.
All dutiable merchandise brought by passengers coming from foreign ports which exceeds five hundred dollars in value shall be duly entered at the custom-house for its appraisal and assessment of duties in regular form, unless otherwise specially ordered by the collector of customs, but if the value of such merchandise be less than said amount, the entry of the same can be made by baggage declaration.
Cigars brought by passengers, evidently for their bona fide personal use, can be admitted free of duty in quantities not exceeding one hundred in the discretion of the collector of customs. Any cigars in excess of one hundred, and not over one thousand, in possession of a passenger, and evidently for his bona fide personal consumption, may be delivered to him on payment of a fine equal to the duty.
The duties on passengers effects, when not amounting to more than one dollar in any one case, may be remitted by the collector.
SEC. 353. Trunks, packages, hand baggage, and other parcels containing dutiable personal effects, not regular merchandise, and belonging to bona fide travelers for curiosity or pleasure, may be left, in the discretion of the collector of customs, in the custody of the passenger and baggage division, or corresponding office of the custom-house, for a period not exceeding throe months, without payment of duty, provided they do not leave the customs jurisdiction, and upon the departure of the owner are duly put on board and manifested as baggage on a vessel bound for a foreign port.
SEC. 354. Trunks, packages, hand baggage, and other parcels so permitted to remain in customs custody shall be securely locked, fastened, tied, and sealed, or otherwise well secured, and shall be left at the sole risk and expense of the owners thereof. They shall be subject to the official storage rates prescribed by the collector of customs for such articles.
SEC. 355. A receipt in writing shall be given to the owner by the designated customs officer, and shall fully describe the parcels, and as far as practicable their contents. Such receipt, however, shall not be delivered to the owner until all the packages are well secured, as provided for in the preceding section of this Act.
SEC. 356. All parcels so remaining in customs custody shall be subject to at least one week's storage.
Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines — Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
