Court of Tax Appeals
0/ / Serree Investment Cq~Pany vs. Commissioner of Customs
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SERREE INVESTMENT CQ~PANY ,
Petitioner ,
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COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS ,
Respondent~
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DEC IS I 0 N
C. T.A.
CASE NO. 721 /
A shipment of eighty-five (85) packages of melon
seeds was received py the petitioner from Hongkong some-
time in April , 1955.
Upon arrival in Manila of said
shipment , the Collector of Customs of Manila ordered
the forfeiture thereof for failure of petitioner to pre-
sent any release certificate of the Central Bank , in
violation of Circulars Nos. 44 and 45 of said Bank.
The facts of the case are stated in the stipulation of
facts dated February 16 , 1961 submitted by the parties ,
pertinent portions of which are quoted hereunders
1. That petitioner is the consignee of
eighty-five (85) packages of melon seeds
which arrived in the Port of Manila from -
Hongkong on board the S/S •Aeolus•
on _April
21, 1955, under Reg. No.
450 ~
covered
by
Seizure Identification No. 2916, and declared
in Entry No. 34608, Series of 1955;
2. That said shipment is duly covered
with the Bill of Lading, Commercial Invoice ,
and the official receipt evidencing payment
of estimated duties and estimated sales tax
in the amount of P2, 955.95 , and another of-
ficial recei?t for the payment of surcharge
in the amount of
20. 00;
3. That the merchandi se in question
did not have any Central Bank Release Certifi~
cate submitted for which reason , it was order-
ed seized by the Appraisers' Division of the
DECISION -
C.T.A. CASE N0.721 - 2 - Bureau of Customs for alleged viola- tion of Central Bank Circulars Nos. 44 and 45 in relation to Section 1363(f)
and Section 1250 of the Revised Adminis-
trative Code;
4. That to release the said ship- ment, petitioner filed Surety Bond No.
317 of the Pioneer Insurance and Surety
Corporation (PISCO), dated April 23, 1955 for the ·sum of TWENTY stx THOUSAND PESOS ( 26,000.00)1 pending the seizure proceedings;
5. That ruling on the seizure iden- tification proceeding, the Collector of CUstoms ordered the payment of the bond, from which ruling appeal was taken to respondent Commissioner of Customs;
6. That respondent Commissioner of Customs, in its decision of November 12, 1959, ordered the confiscation of the bond and payment by petitioner and the surety company jointly and several- ly of the sum of •26,000.00. (See PP• 32- 33, C.T.A. records.} The sole basis of the herein appeal is that Cir- culars Nos. 44 and 45 of the Central Bank which regu- late importations involving no-dollar remittance are void because said Bank had no authority to regulate no-dollar importations. It has been held that said circulars were legally issued, so that any importation not covered by a release certificate issued by the Cen- tral Bank, although involving no immediate remittance of foreign exchange, is subject to forfeiture under Customs Law.
(See Francisco Pascual v. Com. of CUs- toms, G. R. No. L-12219, April 25, 1962, and cases cited therein. )
WHEREFORE, the decision appealed from is here- DECISION ..
C.T.A. CASE NO. 721 - 3 - by affirmed, with costs against petitioner.
SO ORDERED.
Manila, December 29, 1962.
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Associate Judge
WE OON:URS
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Presiding Judge
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