The Rotary Balita no. 709 (November 20, 1952)

President Quirino has authorized the sending of a three-man team to Japan, Formosa and Hongkong to study the customs service in these three countries with a view to studying laws and practices adaptable in the Philippines to improve the local customs service. The team is composed of the senior economist of the finance department, the chief of the supervisory examination service of the bureau of customs and the chief appraiser of the customs bureau. They were instructed to look particularly into the system of "immediate settlement" used in the ports they would visit. In Hongkong, one of the great ports of the world, our men could discover much of practical value. It is known and conceded that there is need for sweeping reforms in the customs system in the Philippines, especially in the port of Manila, itself one of the busiest in the world before the war and potentially one of the busiest at present. The national economy, commerce and trade would profit much from such reforms and the sending of a survey team abroad for the purpose is but one of the many steps the government could take in that direction.