30p Immigration Building/Statue of
Lapu-lapu, - Singles (55,000)
Layout Artist: Victorino Z. Serevo
Stamp Design: Bureau of Immigraton
anniversary logo, stamped canceller, immigration badge, the Bureau's
main building, and, Lapu-Lapu, the first Filipino to resist Spanish
colonization.
First Day Covers: Manila
Bureau of Immigration - 75th Anniversary
The Bureau of Immigration started as a division of the Bureau of
Customs during the American regime in 1899. This was pursuant to Act
No. 702 of the Philippine Commission. It was appropriate because
ship travel and ship cargo were interlinked and hence, the office
was at the Bureau of Customs. It seems that the government then,
gave more importance on the entry of goods than monitoring of
foreign nationals coming into the country. The government was more
interested in generating customs duties from these goods than in the
control and regulation of the arrival and stay of foreigners. The
functions of immigration remained under the said bureau until 1937
when it was transferred as a division of the Bureau of Labor.
The functions of Immigration were transferred in 1937 as a division
under the Bureau of Labor. This was mainly to respond to the arrival
of Chinese nationals who owned and operated trade houses stores and
restaurants in the country.
On January 22, 1940, the Second National Assembly of the Philippine
Commonwealth enacted the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940
(Commonwealth Act No. 613). It was signed into law by the President
of the United States of America on September 3, 1940, creating the
Bureau of Immigration under the administrative supervision of the
Office of the President.
A year or so later, it became an attached agency of the Department
of Justice. Later, its administrative control was returned to the
Office of the President.
When the Pacific war broke out in December 1941, the bureau, then
under the Department of Justice, moved to the Bilibid Prison on
Azcarraga Street (now Claro M. Recto Avenue).
Immediately after the war, the bureau was transferred near the Gate
1 of the South Harbor in Manila, then moved to Building No. 5 at the
Customs Bureau at Gate 4. In 1945, in line with the reorganization
plan of the government, the bureau was put under the supervision and
control of the Department of Labor.
In 1948, the Bureau was reverted to the jurisdiction of the
Department of Justice where it has remained up to the present time.
On September 21, 1972, then President Ferdinand E. Marcos proclaimed
Martial Law, through General Order No. 1, ordered and decreed the
adoption and implementation of the Integrated Reorganization Plan.
Hence, the Commission on Reorganization issued Letter of
Implementation No. 20, dated December 31, 1972 which embodies the
plan, including among other things, the change of name of the office
from the Bureau of Immigration to Commission on Immigration and
Deportation. This became a collegial body and performing both
administrative and quasi-judicial functions. It is composed of the
commissioner and his two associate commissioners. Letter of
Implementation No. 20 also abolished the Deportation Board and
transferred its functions to the Board of Commissioners who gave
them power to undertake deportation cases.
The bureau was given the sole authority to enforce and administer
immigration and foreign nationals registration laws including the
admission, registration, exclusion and deportation and repatriation
of foreign nationals. It also supervises the immigration from the
Philippines of foreign nationals.
On July 25, 1987, President Corazon C. Aquino signed Executive order
No. 292, also known as the Administrative Code of 1987. Said order
renamed the office, “Bureau of Immigration.” It continues, however,
to perform all the powers and functions it had while still a
commission, and its head of office still remains to be called
commissioner as provided under DOJ.
http://www.immigration.gov.ph/the-bureau/history