611B.9417/106a
Text of Statement Released to the Press by the Secretary of Finance of the Philippine Government (Quirino), December 21, 193510
“Some time ago the customs service made a preliminary partial report of arrivals of Japanese textiles for the months of August, September, October and November at 20,053,371 square meters.
“These figures were preliminary estimate of arrivals of Japanese goods and are not at all the same thing as the regularly published statistics of imports of the Philippine Customs Service. The usual published statistics are based upon liquidations of import duties and not arrivals and they show 26,058,339 square meters of Japanese cotton piece goods imported in August, September and October. The fact that these figures are higher than statistics of arrivals is accounted for by the fact that some importers do not file their entries shortly after the arrival of the importing vessel, and occasionally even more than a month after the date of arrival, and also by the fact that delay occurs in the liquidation of entries due mostly to the absence of the [Page 1040] necessary shipping documents. Statistics of imports for August–October include considerable amounts of Japanese cloth which arrived prior to August 1st, during the period when such arrivals were unusually heavy.
“Statistics of arrivals have never before been compiled or published by the Philippine Customs Service. The compilation now being made for the four-months period August–November is still incomplete and the figures released by this office were considerably smaller than the amounts which will be shown by the completed figures.
“It is understood that the agreement between the United States Government and the Japanese Government provided that imports of Japanese cotton piece goods should be measured by the regular customs statistics of imports. The Philippine Government has been informed, however, that due to complications in administering the agreement arising out of the lag in the usual published statistics, representatives of the Japanese Government and the Government of the United States are conferring with respect to an adjustment of the basis of measurement of imports in the future.”
- Copy transmitted to the Counselor of the Japanese Embassy on December 21.↩