SEC. 25. The collector shall be the chief officer of his customs district. Every vessel on a rival from a foreign port shall be subject to his authority while within the jurisdiction of his port. He shall hold possession of all imported merchandise upon which duties have not been paid or secured to be paid, disposing of the same according to law. Merchandise must be entered in his office and duties paid to him only, or to his legally designated representative. He shall deposit his official receipts with a duly designated depository and shall transmit to the Insular Treasurer the written receipts for the same. He shall classify and appraise all imported or exported merchandise. He shall consider all protests against the duty assessed by him, and if he shall find that a manifest clerical error has been made in the assessment of duty he shall make the necessary corrections in liquidation, and report the facts to the Insular Collector. No collector shall be personally liable for losses occasioned by his official acts, except for the delivery of the merchandise to the proper consignee, in accordance with the regulations herein prescribed, nor for the laches of his subordinates. He shall act as the disbursing agent for the Government in his district, in respect to all matters pertaining to customs and other services, as provided by this Act, except as otherwise specially provided for by previous legislation, and shall be the custodian of the buildings, records, and property used for such purposes.
He shall within his district enforce the entry of all merchandise and products intended for export, and shall assess and collect the proper duties and charges thereon, in such manner as the Insular Collector shall by regulation prescribe. He shall also within his district enforce the laws relating to commerce, navigation, and immigration under the regulation and direction of the Insular Collector.
SEC. 26. The customhouses, Government warehouses, offices, wharves, and other premises used for customs purposes of any port shall be under the sole and exclusive control, direction, and management of the collector and of such officers as he may designate. Any person who shall willfully obstruct the same or the approaches d thereto, or who shall refuse to obey the lawful directions of such collector or such designated officers, or who shall willfully interfere with the orderly transaction of the public business, or who shall refuse to conform to such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed for the orderly conduct of such business, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.
SEC. 27. Collectors are required to report to the Secretary of Finance and Justice and the Insular Collector in matters of impending litigation, such as suits upon bonds executed to secure the payment of duties, seizures of goods for violation of the revenue laws, and actions brought against them as collectors for acts done or moneys collected the line of their duty.
They shall have discretionary power, within their respective districts, to remit the assessment of duties in cases where the dutiable value of an importation is less than one dollar, or to dispense with the seizure of goods less than one dollar in value, except in cases of habitual or intentional violation of the revenue laws and of prohibited importations.
SEC. 28. The powers and duties vested by law in collectors shall be also by law as fully vested in their special deputies, duly appointed and discharging the functions of their principals, as herein before prescribed.
In the event of the death, disability, or absence of a collector, the deputy or special deputy, as the case may be, is authorized and required to perform the duties of collector. Should there be no deputy collector or special deputy collector legally qualified to discharge the functions of a collector, the duties of the office shall devolve upon the surveyor, or if there be no surveyor, upon such officer as the Insular Collector may prescribe.
SEC. 29. The several collectors of customs may exact from all employees who have not previously executed official bonds in their districts to the Government, bonds in such reasonable amount as to themselves may seem proper.
SEC. 30. The decision of the collector as to the classification or appraisement of imported or exported merchandise shall be final and conclusive except in case of protest and appeal, as hereinafter provided.
SEC. 31. Deputy collectors, located at other ports than the principal ports of entry of their respective districts, can exercise the powers of their principals only when specially authorized by the Insular Collector, and only within the limits of their assigned territorial jurisdiction, unless otherwise provided by law.
SEC. 32. In case of the death or disability of a surveyor the collector of the district shall authorize some fit person to perform the duties of the vacant office, and the powers of the person so authorized shall continue until a surveyor is duly appointed and ready to assume his office.
Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines — Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
