Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 4653)
Republic Act No. 4653 is titled 'An Act to Safeguard the Health of the People and Maintain the Dignity of the Nation by Declaring It a National Policy to Prohibit the Commercial Importation of Textile Articles Commonly Known as Used Clothing and Rags.' Its main purpose is to prohibit the commercial importation of used clothing and rags to protect public health and national dignity.
Section 1 prohibits the introduction into any point in the Philippines of textile articles commonly known as used clothing and rags, with specific exceptions provided under subsections 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'n', and 'v' of Section 105 of Republic Act No. 1937.
Violators shall be fined not less than two hundred pesos nor more than twenty thousand pesos and imprisoned for not less than two years nor more than five years.
Aliens who violate this law are subject to the fine mentioned above and immediate deportation without further proceedings by any Deportation Board.
The employer is liable for the penalty corresponding to the offense, in addition to the personal or pecuniary penalties imposed on the offending manager, representative, director, agent, or employee.
The persons involved shall suffer the penalties prescribed, and the foreign juridical person’s license to do business in the Philippines shall be revoked with perpetual disqualification to engage in business.
If the act is penalized by any other law, the penalties under that law are imposed in addition to those in RA 4653, along with perpetual absolute disqualification from public office.
Such used clothing and rags shall be burned in the presence of representatives from the General Auditing Office, Department of Finance, and the Office of the President, without undergoing forfeiture proceedings under RA 1937.
All Acts, rules, and regulations inconsistent with RA 4653 are repealed by Section 3 of this Act.
The Act took effect upon its approval on June 17, 1966.