In subjection to the decree of the 29th of March last, and in accord with
the council of ministers,
I hereby authorize the minister of ultramar to present to the Cortes the
project of law consolidating the port and navigation dues in the
Philippine Islands.
The Minister of Ultramar,
Cristóbal Martin
de Herrera.
To the Córtes:
By the sixth article of the decree of the provisional government,
dated December 29, 1868, it was commanded that there be consolidated
into one single impost, denominated “of discharge,” to be paid by
the ton of 1,000 kilograms’ weight of merchandise discharged in the
Philippines, all the dues known up to that time as “light-house,”
“port-clearing,” “anchorage,” and “carga”
dues, and others of the same kind.
Subsequently, by another decree of October 16, 1870, the
customs-tariffs of those islands were reformed, and it was
established, by the thirteenth article thereof, that the single
impost of which the referred-to decree of 1868 treated should be
paid according to the tonnage-measurement of the vessels, varying in
this way the existing precept that the impost in question should
fall upon the tons by weight.
The governor-general of the Philippines, in accordance with the last
decree, established on the 1st of November of last year, and
counting from the 1st of January of this one, the navigation due of
8 céntimos of a dollar for each ton of measurement of sea-going
vessels, and of 2 and 5 céntimos for coasting craft, according as
they may measure twenty or more tons.
The council of state, in its section of ultramar, being heard, it
reported as more acceptable the resolution provisionally dictated by
the governor-general in conformity with the decree of 1870 than that
ordered in the decree of 1868; but as the latter has the character
of a law, and as it was necessary to put into operation the new
impost without delay and in a definitive manner, the King (whom may
God guard) deigned to approve the described measure by a royal
decree of March 29 last, ordering that the government should render
account thereof to the Córtes.
In compliance with the aforesaid royal decree, in accord with the
council of ministers and competently authorized by His Majesty, the
undersigned minister has the honor to submit to the approval of the
Córtes the following
Project of law.
Sole article. The resolution of the
governor-general of the Philippines concerning the consolidation of
port and navigation dues is approved in the terms expressed in the
annexed document.
Madrid, May 18, 1877.
The Minister of Ultramar,
CRISTÓBAL MARTIN de HERRERA.
Manila, November 21,
1876.
In conformity with the proposal of the direction-general of hacienda,
and with the-tenor of the prescriptions of article 13 of the decree
of October 19, 1870, and the royal orders of the 5th of March, 1875,
and the 18th of March last, I hereby decree the following:
- 1st.
- Those imposts which are now paid in the conception of
port-clearing, light-housing,
[Page 512]
and for the captaincy of the port are
consolidated in one single impost denominated “of
navigation.”
- 2d.
- The new impost shall only be exacted in the ports of these
islands habilitated for foreign commerce.
- 3d.
- The tariff fixing the dues of the “impost of navigation
“shall go into effect from the 1st of January of next year,
1877.
- 4th.
- There are excepted from the payment of navigation-dues:
- (1)
- All the vessels of the national navy.
- (2)
- Merchant-vessels, as well national as foreign, and
foreign war-vessels, which may put into port for
enforced cause, whether they shift their cargo to
other vessels or land it in order to take it on
board again.
- (3)
- National steamers, both belonging to and from
without the Archipelago, which perform periodical
service in virtue of contracts with the
administration, and the steam-vessels which make
periodical trips, for a year at least, between
different ports of the Archipelago, and between
these and those of Spain or foreign parts.
- (4)
- Those vessels which only navigate within the bays
and rivers of the declared ports of the
islands.
- (5)
- Those vessels which, having satisfied the
navigation-due in any one of the declared ports of
these islands, may touch or call there again.
- Let account hereof be given to the minister of
ultramar in the terms agreed upon, and let this
expediente be returned to the direccion-general de
hacienda, which department shall issue the necessary
orders for the fulfillment of this decree.
