Philippine Sponge Fisheries Regulation Act

Concessions for sponge sponging

Section 2 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to grant concessions for fishing for, collecting, or gathering sponges in Philippine waters.
Eligibility under Section 2 covers: (a) citizens of the United States or the Philippine Islands, (b) honorably discharged soldiers or sailors of the Army or Navy of the United States, (c) corporations duly organized under Philippine laws, and (d) persons who acquired the political rights of natives of the Philippine Islands under the Treaty of Paris.
Concessions are tied to sponge operations in specific waters; other uses of the area remain preserved as provided in Section 4.

Applications and concession boundaries

Section 3 requires all applications for concessions to be filed with the Secretary of the Interior and to include a description showing latitude and longitude indicated upon a chart of the region desired.
Applications must use the latest published charts of the United States Geodetic Survey as the basis of the plot and must be accompanied by an oath in proper form.
Applicants must swear that the described area does not conflict in any way with any concession already granted or occupied.
If the Secretary of the Interior is satisfied of the applicant’s financial responsibility, the concession may be granted subject to proper erection and location of marks and buoys.
Concession boundaries must be marked at each corner with properly anchored buoys; in shallow water, boundary marks require submission of descriptions of those boundary marks.
Workers under a concession must carry, at all times, a copy of the concession or permit ready to exhibit upon demand by any peace officer or other persons designated by the Secretary of the Interior to enforce the Act.

Fees, due dates, and revenue sharing

Section 5 sets the annual concession fee at twenty-five pesos per square kilometer.
Section 5 requires annual fees to be due on January 1 each year.
Section 5 allows quarterly installment payment on or before January 20, April 20, July 20, and October 20, or on or before the last days of those months in remote provinces, at the discretion of the Collector of Internal Revenue, without penalty.
A person first beginning to fish, collect, or gather sponges under a concession must pay the first quarterly installment before the concession becomes valid.
Section 5 imposes a 10% increase when the fee is not paid within the penalty-free period; the increment becomes part of the fee.
Section 5 cancels the concession if the concession fee remains delinquent for 50 days after it becomes due, without prejudice to criminal proceedings under Section 12.
Revenue sharing under Section 5 allocates 20% to the Insular Treasury and 40% to the province and municipality where the concession is located, respectively.
Where a concession lies within two or more provinces or municipalities, revenue distribution is made in proportion to the concession area within each province and municipality.

Term, exclusivity, and school foreshore use

Section 4 limits the term of sponge concessions granted under the Act to a period not to exceed ten years.
Section 4 provides that the concession covers the sponging privilege exclusively.
Section 4 forbids a concession from interfering with the free passage of boats or vessels over the concession area.
Section 4 preserves unrestricted fishing by others over the concession area for marine forms other than sponges.
Section 4 allows the Director of Education (or authorized representatives) to select, without charge and subject to confirmation by the Secretary of the Interior, adequate areas of foreshore and waters for cultivation of sponges or other marine forms for government schools located on or adjacent to a concession.

Temporary permits for prospecting

Section 6 allows a provincial treasurer, with the concurrence of and countersigned by the provincial governor, to grant temporary written permits to prospect for sponges in waters not under concession.
Section 6 requires payment of a fee of five pesos for such temporary permits.
A temporary prospector’s permit under Section 6 lasts no longer than three months from its issuance date and is not subject to renewal.
Such permits may be issued to any person or corporation subject to Section 2.
Section 6 restricts temporary permit holders to gathering not more than fifty kilos of cleaned sponges under the temporary permit.
Section 6 requires immediate taking up by the first peace officer who notices any temporary prospector’s permits with defaced, erased, or illegible date of issue.
Under Section 6, upon expiration, temporary prospector’s permits must be returned to the issuing treasurers, who must keep them on file marked “cancelled.”

Infrastructure and required approvals

Section 7 grants concession holders the privilege of erecting necessary facilities for developing and exploiting the sponge industry, including houses, drying racks, corrals, landings, and similar structures, on the shore convenient to the concession for proper curing of sponges.
Section 7 requires previous approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Police under Act Numbered Sixteen hundred and fifty-four before erecting the structures covered by the provision.

Shipping, grading, and customs enforcement

Section 8 requires all sponges shipped from the Philippine Islands to be graded by variety and size.
Section 8 requires graded sponges to be placed in separate sacks and to be truthfully marked.
Section 8 assigns enforcement duty to the Insular Collector of Customs in accordance with rules and regulations issued under the Act.

Size limit, forfeiture, and investigation

Section 9 prohibits taking from Philippine waters any commercial sponge of less than ten centimeters through any diameter, except for purposes of sponge culture within Philippine waters.
Section 9 imposes forfeiture of the concession and confiscation by the Government of the entire shipment in which such undersized sponge is found.
Section 9 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to impose this penalty after investigation deemed necessary in each case.
Section 9 preserves criminal punishment under Section 12 without prejudice to the administrative consequences.

Regulatory power and force of law

Section 10 authorizes and empowers the Secretary of the Interior to make and prescribe, and to change from time to time, rules and regulations required to carry out the Act and to conserve and promote the sponge industry.
Section 10 clarifies that rulemaking authority does not cover fixing the manner for collection of the fees and charges provided in the Act.
Section 10 provides that rules and regulations, when approved by the Governor-General, have the force of law.
Section 10 makes violations of such rules and regulations punishable under the Act.

Unlawful acts and detailed prohibitions

Section 11 prohibits transferring any concession or permit granted under the Act without the consent of the Secretary of the Interior.
Section 11 prohibits fishing, collecting, or gathering sponges growing on the sea bottom or reefs within the boundary of another person’s concession.
Section 11 prohibits sponging by a concessionaire outside the boundary of the concessionaire’s own concession.
Section 11 prohibits the practice of “loading” or impregnating sponges with any foreign substance for the purpose of increasing apparent weight and deceiving purchasers about true weight.
Section 11 prohibits shipping from or attempting to ship from the Philippine Islands sponges taken from Philippine waters except through the Custom House at a port of entry.
Section 11 prohibits possessing Philippine commercial sponges unless the possessor holds a concession or permit under the Act or a bill of sale traceable from a concessionaire.
Section 11 prohibits removing, defacing, destroying, or interfering with the location marks of any concession granted under the Act.
Section 11 prohibits possessing undersized sponges, or sponges of less than ten centimeters through any diameter.
Section 11 prohibits taking any commercial sponge using any dredge or “gan-gara” except in waters more than thirty fathoms in depth.

Criminal penalties and corporate liability

Section 12 provides that any person violating the Act or any regulation issued under the Act is punished by a fine of not less than twenty pesos and not more than five hundred pesos for each offense, imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, at the discretion of the court.
Section 12 provides that if an association or corporation violates or causes violations, conviction results in a fine of not less than one hundred pesos and not more than one thousand pesos for each offense.
Section 12 provides that for an association or corporation: any person, member, or employee who violates or causes violations, aids, abets, assists in such violation, or voluntarily permits it faces a fine not exceeding five hundred pesos for each offense, imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, at the discretion of the court.

Venue and jurisdiction

Section 13 permits prosecution of violations in any Court of First Instance of any province.
Section 13 grants exclusive jurisdiction to the court first lawfully taking cognizance, excluding all other courts.

Special delegation in Mindanao and Sulu

Section 14 authorizes the Governor-General to designate the Governor of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu to perform the duties and powers devolving upon the Secretary of the Interior under the Act within the territorial limits of said Department.

Repeal, transferred records, and savings

Section 15 repeals Act Numbered Two hundred nine of the former Legislative Council, entitled “An Act for the preservation and regulation of the sponge fisheries of the Moro Province, and for other purposes.”
Section 15 preserves rights and obligations acquired or imposed under Act Numbered Two hundred nine for sponge concessions existing at the time this Act is passed.
Section 15 transfers all records carried by the Government of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu under Act Numbered Two hundred nine to the office of the Secretary of the Interior.

Limited exemption for small daily gatherers

Section 16 provides that the Act does not apply to persons gathering sponges outside concession limits if their daily amount gathered does not exceed five kilograms.

Effectivity rule

Section 17 provides that the Act takes effect on its passage.
The Act was enacted on February 4, 1916.