After the Commonwealth Government
was established in the country, the Philippine Legislature enacted
Commonwealth Act No. 613 forming the Bureau of Immigration as a separate
office from the Bureau of Customs.
On May 1, 1947, the Bureau of Customs has as its head the Insular
Collector of Customs. He was assisted by the Deputy Insular Collector
of Customs. Both officials were concurrently Collector of Customs
and the Deputy Collector of Customs of the Port of Manila.
The Republic
Pursuant to the Executive Order
No. 94 of Republic Act No. 52, the President of the Philippines reorganized
the different departments, bureaus, offices and agencies of the government
of the Republic of the Philippines. Consequently, the Insular Collector
of Customs was changed to Collector of Customs for the Port of Manila.
The reorganization took effect on July 1, 1947.
In 1957, Congress enacted the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines
known as Republic Act No. 1937, otherwise known as the "Tariff
Law of the Republic of the Philippines". This took effect on
July 1, 1957. The passage of this act by the defunct Congress of the
Philippines subject to the provisions of the Laurel-Langley Agreement,
became the first official expression of an autonomous Philippine Tariff
Policy.
Before the passage of Republic Act 1937, all importations from the
United States enjoyed full exemptions pursuant to the Tariff Act No.
1902 which was adopted by Republic Act No. 3 as the Tariff Laws of
the Philippines.
