Amending Section 105 of TCC Re: Exemption of Importations of Certain Agencies from Customs Duty

July 9, 1973

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 238

FURTHER AMENDING SECTION 105 OF THE TARIFF AND CUSTOMS CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES, AS AMENDED, EXEMPTING IMPORTATIONS OF DOMESTIC SCHEDULED AIRLINES AND OF NEW MINES AND OLD MINES WHICH RESUME OPERATIONS FROM CUSTOMS DUTY

WHEREAS, the domestic scheduled airlines had been granted under their respective Congressional Franchises exemption from customs duty and compensating tax in consideration of the franchise tax on gross receipts therein imposed and of the essential air transportation service they provide the public;

WHEREAS, there is a pressing need to rehabilitate our faltering civil aviation industry, to expand and improve the service being provided by the domestic scheduled airlines, to assure a favorable competitive position of our national flag carrier in the international field and to make the operations of our scheduled airlines financially sound and economically viable to effect the desired social and economic development of our country; aisa dc

WHEREAS, the Philippines is blessed with bountiful mineral resources, the development and exploitation of which is essential to our economic development;

WHEREAS, the mining industry requires large amounts of high risk capital and needs tax incentives during the initial years of commercial operations;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution as Commander-in-Chief of all the Armed Forces of the Philippines and pursuant to Proclamation No. 1081, dated September 21, 1972, and General Order No. 1, dated September 22, 1972, as amended, do hereby amend Section 105 of the Tariff and Customs Code, as amended, to wit:

SECTION 1. Section One hundred five of Republic Act Numbered Nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, otherwise known as the "Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines," is further amended by inserting two new paragraphs "(u)" and "(v)" therein after paragraph (t) thereof which shall read as follows: cd

"Sec. 105. Conditionally-Free Importations. —

xxx xxx xxx

"(u) Aircraft, equipment and machinery, spare parts commissary and catering supplies, aviation gas, fuel and oil, whether crude or refined, and such other articles or supplies imported by and for the use of scheduled airlines operating under Congressional franchises; Provided, That such articles or supplies are not locally available in reasonable quantity, quality and price and are necessary or incidental for the proper operation of the scheduled airline importing the same; and "(v) Machineries, equipment, tools for the production, plants to convert mineral ores into saleable form, spare parts, supplies, materials, accessories, explosives, chemicals, and transportation and communication facilities imported by and for the use of new mines and old mines which resume operations, when certified to as such by the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources upon the recommendation of the Director of Mines, for period ending five (5) years from the first date of actual commercial production of saleable mineral product; Provided, That such articles are not locally available in reasonable quantity, quality and price and are necessary or incidental in the proper operation of the mine." cdt

SECTION 2. This Decree is hereby made part of the law of the land and shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 9th day of July, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Three.