WHEREAS, the further development, improvement and
maintenance of pier and port facilities will greatly enhance our
national economic development; and
WHEREAS, to enable the Government to implement and sustain a
massive, systematic and accelerated program on port development,
construction and maintenance of port facilities, it becomes necessary to
levy wharfage dues not only on imported and exported articles but on
domestic articles transported at national ports as well, and thereby
insure an equitable distribution of the costs of providing and
maintaining port facilities;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution,
do hereby decree and order that Sections 2801 and 2802 of Republic Act
No. 1937, otherwise known as the Tariff and Customs Code of the
Philippines, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 34, shall be and are
hereby further amended to read as follows:
"SEC. 2801. Definition. — Wharfage due is the
amount assessed against the cargo of a vessel engaged in foreign or
coastwise trade, based on the quantity, weight or measure received
and/or discharged by such vessel. The owner or consignee of the article,
or the agent of either, is the person liable for such charge.
"SEC. 2802. Schedule of Dues. - There shall be
levied, collected and paid as wharfage dues, on all articles imported or
brought into the Philippines, a charge of eight pesos (P8.00) per gross
metric ton; on articles exported from the Philippines, a charge of four
pesos (P4.00) per gross metric ton and on domestic articles transported
at national ports, a charge of one peso (P1.00) per gross metric ton: Provided,
That in the case of logs, or flitches twelve inches square or
equivalent cross-sectional area, or over, the charge shall be three
pesos (P3.00) per cubic meter if exported from the Philippines and
eighty centavos (P0.80) per cubic meter if transported at national
ports, while in the case of iron sands and magnetites, ferrous and
nonferrous ores and concentrates, the charge shall be sixty centavos
(P0.60) per gross metric ton if exported from the Philippines and twenty
centavos (P 0.20) per gross metric ton if transported at national
ports: Provided, further, That in case the articles imported
into or exported from or transported within the Philippines are loaded
or unloaded offshore, in midstream, or in private wharves where no
loading or unloading facilities are owned and maintained by the
Government, the wharfage fees shall be fifty percent (50%) of the rates
provided for herein."
This Decree shall take effect on January 1, 1974.
Done in the City of Manila, this 25th day of April, in the
year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-four.
(Sgd.) FERDINAND E.
MARCOS
President
Republic of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.) ALEJANDRO
MELCHOR
Executive Secretary