The Customs Zone for the Port of Cebu

Though the Customs house of Cebu has been established in the 1900's by the Americans, the Customs Zone for the Port of Cebu was established in the 1970's.

The Customs Zone for the Port of Cebu was established through an Executive Order (No. 448) issued by President Ferdinand E. Marcos on February 5, 1975.

President Marcos said that for a more effective supervision and control of the customs service and administration of customs laws and regulations, it was desirable that the premises adjoining the piers and wharves at the Port of Cebu, be placed under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Customs.

The Customs Zone, the then proposed Customs Zone 1, shall cover the Cebu Cadastre, situated in the City of Cebu, Island of Cebu, bounded on the North by Quezon Boulevard, on the East by the Cebu Harbor, on the South by F. Gonzales St. , and on the West by Public Land.

The Customs Zone contains an area of 93,391 square meters. The presidential decree also mandated that all existing and proposed piers, wharves and berthing spaces in the Port of Cebu, with their back-up areas already reclaimed and to be reclaimed, and the whole waterfront of the Port of Cebu are also included in the Customs Zone.

Another interesting provision of the Executive Order creating the Cebu Customs Zone was that all land areas including land under water, and all buildings owned by the government and government-owned corporations within the Customs Zone were hereby transferred to and replaced under the administration, control and use of the Bureau of Customs.

Executive Order No. 448 also mandated that the Commissioner of Customs, with the concurrence of the Director of Public Works and the approval of the Secretary of Finance, were authorized to lease to private parties or government agencies and/or government-owned or controlled corporations, appropriate areas within the port zone, with a view of promoting utilization of the port zone to enhance port-oriented commerce and industry.

The mandate of authorizing lease, however, provides that the lease shall not violate any approved development plan existing at the time such leased is entered into. The rental rates, terms and conditions of the contract of lease, and disposition of the income therefrom, shall be in accordance with the provisions of Section 37 and 64(a) of Commonwealth Act No. 141, as amended by Republic Act 2694.

The executive order was prepared by Alejandro Melchor Jr., Executive Secretary of President Marcos. Alejandro Jr.'s father was a Visayan, who was from Aklan, which is part of Western Visayas. Alejandro Melchor Sr.  graduated in 1924 in Civil Engineering with the highest honors from the University of the Philippines. The Melchor Hall in the University of the Philippines and a building in the Philippine Military Academy are named in his honor.

Commonwealth Act No. 141 is the law that amended and compiled the laws relative to lands of the public domain. It was a pre-war legislation, as it was approved by the National Assembly on November 7, 1936. The Philippine Legislature at that time, reverted to a Unicameral Assembly as the Philippine Senate created in 1916 was abolished by the 1935 Constitution. The Bicameral Congress was only restored in 1941, however, it was only reconvened in 1946 after the Second World War.

Commonwealth Act No. 141, a number of its provisions was amended by Republic Act 2694 which was approved by the Philippine Congress (this time our legislature reverted to a Bicameral Body) on June 18, 1960.