Aliens "fees" and the Rule of Law

Media

Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Aliens "fees" and the Rule of Law
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XXVIII (No. 8) August 1952
Year: 1952
Rights
Fulltext: The compromise bill, No. 3116, provided for the ex tension of the life of the Act until the end of 1953, but com promised on the amount of the tax, specifying that 17% would continue to be levied until June 30, 1953, the tax to be reduced to 12-1/2% during the period from July 1, 1953, to December 31, 1953. It also included, among the exemptions, payments for agricultural machinery and implements and payments for outstanding obligations contracted prior to March 28, 1951, as in Bill No. 2322. The Committee’s compromise bill was further amended on the floor, most of the amendments being minor ones and the principal one being the elimination from the original Act of the highly objectionable requirement that the tax shall be collected even on the payments of exempted im ports, for later refund by the Bank. The amended Act now simply states that the tax “shall not be collected” on such payments. Besides the inclusion among the exempted imports of “agricultural machineries and imple ments and their spare parts and accessories”, also exempted are the “supplies and equipment purchased directly by or for the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Civil Aeronautics Administration as certified by the corre sponding Department heads”; also “spare parts, equipments, accessories of airplanes and vessels of Philippine register”, with certain reservations. The proposed amendment exempting payments for outstanding obligations contracted prior to March 28, 1951, the proceeds of which were used for agricultural and industrial rehabilitation, was lost. It will be seen that the gains made against the con tinued imposition of the exchange tax, in spite of all the effort made to obtain more important modifications, are not great. The reduction from 17% to 12-1/2% will apply to only the latter half of the year 1953. On the other hand, the life of the Act has .been extended for less than a year beyond the originally specified period. And completely blocked was the earlier proposal that the tax be increased from 17% to 25%! Republic Act No. 814, amending the original Foreign Exchange Tax Act No. 601, is not as bad as it might have been in view of all the circumstances. However, the only eventuality, with respect to the exchange tax, to which industry and business and the people as a whole can look forward to with any optimism, is its total abolition come end of the year 1953. ■ Meanwhile, and for as long as this capital-trap may continue to exist, we must give up all hope of any large private foreign capital investment in local enterprise. This past session of the Philippine Congress, both the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 and the Alien Reg, istration Act of 1950 were again Aliens amended. “Fees” and The first was amended by Rethe Rule of Law public Act No. 749 which provides, among other things, for an increase in the alien head tax from P16.00 to P25.00, this tax being payable by every alien over 16 years of age admitted to the Philippines. The Act also increases various fees, as (1) for executing an application for a passport-visa for a non-immigrant, from P5.00 to P10.00; (2) for an extension of a re-entry permit, from P10.00 to P20.00; (3) for exe cuting an application for an immigration visa, from P5.00 to P10.00; (4) for a petition for preference-quota status, from P 10.00 to P40.00; (5) for a petition for a visa for a non-immigrant coming to pre-arranged employment, from P20.00 to P80.00. The Act furthermore provides that if an alien’s certificate of residence has been lost, original fee, P50.00, the fee for a duplicate is P40.00; and while the fee for a re-entry permit is P20.00, the fee for a duplicate re-entry permit is P40.00. The fee for an extension of a temporary stay is P10.00 for every month of extension. Even in the case of students, the Act provides that for every year, or fraction thereof, of a stay beyond two years, as a non-immigrant student, the fee is P50.00 This list does not include many other fees which the Act leaves unchanged. Republic Act No. 751, which amends the Alien Regis tration Act, increases the annual report fee for aliens from P0.50 in documentary stamps to P20.00 in documentary, stamps for all aliens 14 years of age or over, and from P0.50 to P10.00 for all aliens less than .14 years of age. The same Act increases the fee for a duplicate original of a lost alien certificate of registration, ori ginal fee, P50.00, from P2.00 plus a 30-centavo docu mentary stamp, to Pl0.00. The explanatory note prefixed to the original Bill stated: “No less than P3,000,000 will be collected annually in the form of alien annual report fees if the proposed rates are approved.” This referred only to the revenues from the increase in the annual report fees, not to the increase in revenues expected from the increases in the other fees. The sponsors of the two original bills were, in the one case, Representatives Macapagal, Allas, and Lacson, and, in the other, Representatives Macapagal, Cases, and Duran. Both were recommended for approval by the House Com mittee on Foreign Affairs, of which Representative Maca pagal is the Chairman, and were duly approved, not only by the House, but by the Senate, and, finally, by President Quirino. In the issue of this Journal for March, of this year, . we published a list of government fees and other incidental expenses incurred by a hypothetical American, with a family who comes to take a position in the Philippines, say in a mining firm. In addition to the costs of the journey,— railroad fare, hotel expenses, sea or air transportation, new clothing suitable to the Philippine climate, and the loss and expense usually entailed in breaking up a house hold and setting it up again many thousands of miles away, these fees and incidental expenses were, as of a few months ago: United States Passport Husband............................................................. $10.00 Wife and 3 children (combined)................. 10.00 Application for 2 visas—Philippine Government................................................. 5.00 2 visas................................................................ 20.00 $45.00 P 90.00 Philippines Husband Head Tax..................................................... P 16.00 Alien Registration Certificate and stamps........................................................ 50.30 Immigrant Residence Certificate and stamps........................................................ 50.60 12 photographs (not paid to Govern ment) .......................................................... 7.00 City Residence Certificate...................... .50 Wife Head Tax...................................................... 16.00 Alien Registration Certificate and stamps........................................................ 50.30 Immigrant Residence Certificate and Stamps........................................................ 50.60 12 photographs (not paid to Govern ment).......................................................... 7.00 City Residence Certificate...................... .50 Child No. 1 (16 years old) Head Tax...................................................... 16.00 Alien Registration Certificate and stamps........................................................ 50.30 Immigrant Residence Certificate and stamps........................................................ 50.60 12 photographs (not paid to Govern ment).......................................................... 7.00 124.40 124.40 123.90 294 Child No. 2 (14 years old) Alien Registration Certificate and stamps....................................................... 50.30 Immigrant Residence Certificate and stamps........................................................ 50.60 12 photographs (not paid to Govern ment).......................................................... 7.00 107.90 Child No. 3 (2 years old) Alien Registration Certificate and stamps........................................................ 3 photographs.............................................. 2.30 3.50 5.80 Total................................................................... P 576.40 Under the two laws and recently amended, the fees and incidental expenses are as follows: * United States Passport Husband............................................................. $10.00 Wife and 3 children (combined)......... 10.00 Application for 2 passport visas—Philip pine Government........................................ 5.00 2 passport visas for nonimmigrants ... 20.00 Petition for visa for non-immigrant com ing to pre-arranged employment*......... 40.00 ’$ 85.00 P 170.00 ’ Philippines Husband Head Tax..................................................... P 25.00 Alien Registration Certificate and stamps........................................................ 50.30 Residence Certificate (For pre-arrang ed employee) and stamps.................. 50.60 12 photographs (not paid to Govern ment) ..............-.......................................... 7.00 City Residence Certificate...................... .50 Wife Head Tax...................................................... Alien Registration Certificate and stamps........................................................ Residence Certificate (For pre-arranged employee) and stamps......................... 12 photographs (not paid to Govern ment) .......................................................... City Residence Certificate...................... P 133.40 25.00 50.30 50.60 7.00 .50 133.40 Child No. 1 (16 years old) Head Tax....................................'................ 25.00 Alien Registration Certificate and stamps........................................................ 50.30 Residence Certificate (For pre-arranged employee) and stamps......................... 50.60 12 photographs (not paid to Govern ment) ......................................................... 7.00 132.90 Child No. 2 (14 years old) Alien Registration Certificate and stamps........................................................ Residence Certificate (For pre-arranged employee) and stamps......................... 12 photographs (not paid to Govern ment) .......................................................... 50.30 50.60 7.00 107.90 Child No. 3 (2 years old) Alien Registration Certificate................ 2.30 3 photographs (not paid to Govern ment) .......................................................... 3.50 5.80 Total.................................................. P 683.40 Before the recent amendments to the two pertinent laws, the total fees, etc. paid by such a small family amounted to P576.60; under the new amendments, the total fees, etc. amount to P683.40. This is just for the American and his little family to get into the country and to estab lish temporary residence and for him to take a position. Over and above this, he is, of course, subject to all the taxes, direct and indirect, which every head of a family has to pay. In addition to the ordinary taxes, however, he had until the recent amendments, to pay an annual report fee on his Alien Registration Certificate and those of his wife and all three children, of 50 centavos, or a total of P2.50 for the five certificates. This did not amount to much in money, but was a great bother. Under the amendments, this 50-centavo fee has been increased to Pl0.00, or, for him, a total of P50.00 a year. If we suppose that after a few years, the American wants to go home for a vacation, he meets with new exac tions. He must get an emigration clearance certificate, fee P20.00, plus 60-centavo stamp for every member of his family if they all go,—P100.00 total. He must also get a re-entry permit in advance, fee P20.00, for every member of his family 14 years of age or over,—an other P80.00. A re-entry permit, however, is only good for one year, and if he remains away longer, say because of an illness in the family, he has to make out a sworn application for an extension of the re entry permits, which is P5.00 per application, or P20.00 for the four, and for the extended re-entry permits them selves, he is charged P20.00 each,—or a total of another P80.00. This is still not all, for before he can leave the country he must get a tax clearance certificate, for each member of his family except the baby, at P15.00 each. He must also get a foreign funds control license to take home what money he has been able to save, and if, in spite of all, he has saved a few thousand pesos, the chances are that he will not be permitted to take more than a part of it. Such is the bed of roses which the Philippine law makers have made for the aliens who live in the Philip pines, among whom Americans are now included. And as they contemplate their situation,—if they remain cool enough to contemplate it, they wonder whether our law makers know the meaning of what is known in jurispru dence as the Rule of Law, as opposed to the Rule of Status, and whether they know that the “movement of progressive societies” is from the rule of status to the rule of law, as only the latter can safeguard “that equality before the law which is the opposite of arbitrary government.” Our law-makers, as a whole, seem to be of the opinion that there is no limit to the rightful powers of the legisla tor and that “so long as all actions of the state are duly authorized by legislation”, the Rule of Law is preserved, but this, declares an authority, “is completely to miscon ceive the meaning of the Rule of Law.” He goes on: “This rule has little to do with the question whether all actions of government are legal in the juridical sense. They may well be and yet not conform to the Rule of Law. . . By giving the government un limited powers,' the most arbitrary rule can be made legal, and in this way a democracy may set up the most complete despotism possible. .. It is possible to pursue a policy of ruthless discrimination against national minorities by the use of recognized instruments of economic policy land other measures] without ever infringing the letter of the statutory protection of minority rights. . . "The Rule of Law implies limits to the scope of legislation; it restricts it to the kind of general rules known as [formal laws and ex cludes legislation aimed at particular people or at enabling anybody to use the coercive power of the state for the purpose of such discrimina tion. . . Such limitations of the po wers of legislation imply the recogni tion of the inalienable rights of the individual, the inviolable rights of man. . .” (F. A. Hayek: “The Road to Serfdom.”) Disregard of the Rule of Law in legislating establishes a regime which “knows no other limit than that set by expediency” and which is therefore completely unethical. The aliens in the Philippines are being made to feel that they live under such a regime. There was nothing even remotely approaching the situation in which aliens now find themselves during the years of American sovereignty and during the years of the Commonwealth. It came about during these last few years under the Republic. A fter the draft of this editorial had been prepared, ^the editor sent the included tables and several other per tinent paragraphs to Immigration Commissioner Vicente de la Cruz, with the following self-explanatory letter: 295 ‘‘Dear Sir: “We are considering the publication of an editorial on the new fees being charged in the Bureau of Immigration under the Immigra tion Act and the Alien Registration Act as recently amended. The editorial we have in mind would naturally be critical and we realize that it would probably not make pleasant reading for you (although, to be sure, you are not responsible for the laws it is your duty to exe cute). Nevertheless we feel that we may count on your assistance in avoiding errors of fact, as you would rightly object to them and we, ourselves, have no desire to make things appear worse than they are. “May we ask, therefore, that you be so kind as to go over the attached few pages of the draft and check them for any possible error and also for possible omissions? We would greatly appreciate your assistance. It goes without saying that we do not have in mind to criticize, directly, either your Bureau or yourself. “Very sincerely yours, etc.” We were favored with the following very prompt and informative reply: "Sir: “This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of July 25, 1952, requesting correction of the draft of your proposed editorial on the new immigration fees which were approved recently by Congress. It has been duly corrected as requested. "Your editorial will certainly place the question of increase in fees in a very unfavorable light. As you will mention in that article the cost of the journey,—the costs of the photographs required for identi fication not paid to us, railroad fare, hotel expenses, sea or air trans portation, new clothing suitable to the Philippine climate and the loss and expense usually entailed in breaking up a household and setting it up again many thousand miles away, together with the immigration fees, a false impression is necessarily created by your proposed editorial which might serve to discourage the travel of Americans to the Philip pines. Nevertheless, we thank you for any constructive criticism as it is your right to make, and we are only explaining to justify our recom mendation to Congress. “Incidentally, we wish to mention the fact that as of April 30, 1952, we have the following number of aliens in the Philippines: (1) Chinese.......................................................... 145,720 (21 Americans ................................................... 11,754 (3) Spaniards....................................................... 2,421 (4) British............................................................ 1,065 (5) Indians........................................................... 1,545 (6) Germans........................................................ 511 (7) Belgians......................................................... 288 (8) Other nationalities...................................... 2,262 Total.......................................................... 165,976 “Naturally, all of the 165,976 aliens are affected by the two amended acts of legislation. When we recommended the approval by Congress of ourTevised immigration fees, we had no intention to adversely affect any American, or any alien for that matter, but it was only our inten tion to follow the recommendation of the Bell Mission which came to the Philippines a few years ago recommending the increase of govern ment income so as to meet the expenses of our Government due to our necessary public services incidental to our independence. We thought of recommending exemption to Americans, Filipino-Americans, and Missionaries from the increase in fees, but since this would have consti tuted class legislation, we decided that we could not legally do 'it. “For permanent residents no increase in immigration fees has been provided with the exception of the annual report fee which was increased from P0.50 to P10.00 in view of the importance of the ser vice performed. The head tax was also increased from P16.00 to P25.00. “With respect to aliens who came under pre-arranged employ ment, the following information is given: “In 1946, only 3 came; 1947—173; 1948—207; 1949—196; 1950— 200; 1951—288; and 1952—160; or a total of 1,227 arrivals from 1946 to 1952. Practically all of these paid the old rate of fee of P20.00. Very few, therefore, came in even under the old rate. The increased rate of P80.00 for pre-arranged employees is applicable to all nationa lities. “Again we want to state that in recommending the increased rates, we were only guided by the recommendation of the Bell Mission as stated above, as we need funds for public education, public health, peace and order, economic development, and other necessary activities. Whatever increase is made out of the two amendatory legislations, will go to help meet the expenses of the Government. "It should not be forgotten that even in the United States which has plenty of government funds, its Congress has deemed it fit to in crease the rate of taxation and fees; so is also the tendency of other governments throughout the world. “Very sincerely yours, "Vicente de la Cruz “Commissioner of Immigration." tn reply to this letter of the Com/nissioner, we should 1 like only to observe, very respectfully, that a bureau of immigration is not generally organized as an entity charged with the function of collecting government revenues, as is a bureau of internal revenue or a bureau of customs. It seems to us that the distinction between govern ment taxes and government fees is being lost sight of. The costs of government are met by the levying of taxes, which are paid by everyone. Government fees are generally paid for certain services which directly benefit only those who pay the fees and these are generally just high enough to cover the cost cf administration. Alliens Gagged and Denied Right of Appeal to the Courts Republic Act No. 749, amending the Philippine Im migration Act of 1940, commented upon in another editorial in this issue of the Journal, besides increasing various fees charged by the Bureau of Immigration in con nection with aliens entering and leaving the country, contains a number of provisions which im press us as not only extremely dangerous but as definitely unconstitutional. One of these is the following: “Sec. 7. Section forty of the same Act, is hereby amended to read as follows: . . . “ (d) The Commissioner of Immigration may, in the exercise of his sound discretion, deny the release under bond of any detained alien who is the subject of exclusion or deportation proceedings, and the filing of any action before a court of justice seeking relief from any order, resolution, or decision rendered by immigration officials in con nection .with the exclusion or deportation proceedings shall not divest the Commissioner of Immigration of the power granted him under this section.” The explanatory note prefixed to the original Bill explained the purpose of this provision as follows: “Under Section 7, it is stressed that the discretionary power of the Commissioner of Immigration to permit the release under bond of an alien subject of exclusion or deportation proceedings is not subject to review or interference by the courts. . .” Can the right of appeal to the courts be thus denied to anyone, and can the authority of the courts be thus limited? We do not believe so. There is another provision in the Act which gives broad scope to the most flagrant abuse, particularly in con nection with the protection of the authority given the Commissioner of Immigration by the provision just re ferred to. It runs: “Sec. 5. The following grounds for deportation are hereby added to, as paragraphs (14). . . of, subsection (a) of section thirty-seven, of the same Act, as amended. . . to read as follows: “(14). Any alien who makes a public and malicious or libelous imputation of a crime, or of a vice or defect, real or imaginary, or any act, omission, condition, status, or circumstance tending to cause dis honor, discredit, or contempt of the person of the President or VicePresident of the Philippines, or the members of the Congress of the Philippines without prejudice to whatever action, civil or criminal, the offended party may file against said alien. . .” This provision renders the Act a most dangerous gag law which can have no conceivable place among the laws of a democratic country such as the Philippines has for some considerable period of years been believed to be. It is true that the provision applies “only to aliens”, but it denies them the right even to protest against the very discriminations which this same Act, in its other provisions, heaps upon them. Are the rights of free speech and press under the Constitution to be reserved exclusively to Philippine nationals? If this should meet with general acquiescence among them, then they themselves will in time be inevitably stripped of these same rights, for they can not be preserved by those who fail to recognize the necessity of their universality. It is not possible to maintain democracy undemocratically. Those who undermine it surely dig a pit for themselves. The American "Alien and Sedition Acts".—"The troubles with France (during the administration of John Adamsl, which for the moment had increased the strength of the Federalists and had enabled them to win their last political victory in the congressional elections of 1798-1799, was in the end to prove their undoing. Taking advantage of the war furore and the temporary weakening of the Republicans, they pushed through Congress in 1798 four acts known collectively as the alien and sedition acts. A Naturalization Act lengthened the period of resid ence necessary for citizenship from 5 to 14 years, while two alien acts gave the President the power to expel from the country nliens judged dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States and in tirfie of war to expel or restrain aliens as he deemed wise. The alien acts were both enforced, but the accompanying Sedition Act, which made it a crime under penalty of fine or imprisonment to write or pub lish ‘any false, scandalous, or malicious' statement condemning the President or either house of Congress or bringing them into ‘contempt or disrepute’, was en forced. War might have given a partial excuse for some of this legislation, but the 296