Grant of Tax Exemptions to Philippine-American Cultural Foundation

June 17, 1961

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 3062

AN ACT EXEMPTING THE PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN CULTURAL FOUNDATION FROM THE PAYMENT OF CUSTOMS DUTIES, IMPORT LEVY, TAXES AND THE MARGIN FEE, AS WELL AS DONATIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS AND GIFTS GIVEN THERETO

WHEREAS, the Philippine-American Cultural Foundation governed by a Board of Trustees composed of six Filipinos and five Americans, under the chairmanship of a Filipino, is proposing to construct a two million five hundred thousand-peso (P2,500,000.00) Cultural Center in the Philippines to be financed by a three million twenty-one thousand nine hundred forty-six pesos (P3,021,946.00) donation from the United States of America;

WHEREAS, the object of the Foundation is to help preserve, enrich and develop Philippine cultural for the general well-being of the Filipino people; and to bind closer the ties of friendship between the United States of America and the Philippines; and

WHEREAS, the proposed construction of this Foundation will not entail any obligation on the part of any Filipino citizen or any institution in this country, nor required any counterpart fund from the Republic of the Philippines: Now, therefore,

SECTION 1.  All articles which shall be imported from foreign countries into the Philippines for the exclusive use by, and display or exhibit of, the Philippine-American Cultural Foundation shall be exempt from the payment of customs duties, import levy, taxes, and margin fee: Provided, That any article withdrawn from such use and/or display or exhibit and utilized for a purpose other than that contemplated in this Act shall be subject to the payment of the corresponding customs duty, import levy, taxes and margin fee, unless said article is donated to the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.

SECTION 2.  A citizen or subject of a foreign country under contract with the Foundation shall be allowed to enter the Philippines and shall be exempt from the payment of visa fees and alien registration fees, under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner of Immigration, with the approval of the Secretary of Justice, may prescribe both as to the admission and departure of such alien person.

SECTION 3.  All personal effects, including one automobile, which may be needed by a citizen or subject of a foreign country under contract with the Foundation for his own exclusive use, shall be allowed to enter the Philippines free from the payment of customs duties, import levy, taxes and the margin fee: Provided, That the entry of such personal effects shall be subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Finance. cd i

SECTION 4.  All donations, contributions and gifts given to the Foundation by a donor shall be exempt from the payment of the customs duties, import levy, taxes and the margin fee, and such donations, contributions and gifts shall be considered allowable deductions for purposes of determining the income tax of the donor.

SECTION 5.  Upon dissolution of the Philippine-American Cultural Foundation, the Cultural Center with all its equipment, furnishings and exhibits and all other properties of the said Foundation in the Philippines shall become the property of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines without any payment.

SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: June 17, 1961

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 57, No. 47, p. 8451 on November 20, 1961