Chapter 13
GIRO (DRAFT) STAMPS

Article 7. Letters  of exchange and other  drafts  issued  abroad  and also  payable  outside of   the  Islands, will not require stamps, although they may be negotiated within  the same; but  stamps  will  be  required in accordance with  the  preceding  Articles, if  returned  for protest, in the form prescribed  in the preceding Article.

Article 8.  Second  and  third letters of exchange and others are exempt from the Stamp Tax;   however,  if  the  first of exchange,  stamped,  is  not attached  to  the one  in circulation at the time of payment, the duplicate should  bear  the corresponding  stamp.

Article 9.  The  endorsement or  guarantee, if  separate from the letter of  exchange, will  be  subject to  the same  proportional stamp  as the letter.

Article 10. The  receiver of  a draft which  lacks the  corresponding stamp for the amount,  and  in the form,  prescribed by the  foregoing Articles, is  obliged  to return it to the drawer or  endorser, in order that this requisite may be complied with. Notaries Public will refrain from authorizing  protests of  drafts  not  in  the  proper form.

Article 11. Every draft whose stamp  is  not adjusted to the disposition of the foregoing Articles will be null  and void,  and will not  be admitted  in any Court or public office of any grade or  jurisdiction; lacking , therefore, the  executive efficiency with which mercantile  documents are invested. This  shall  not prevent, as  a purely civil obligation,   the  usual legal proceedings for compelling compliance with  the provisions of  this  order.

Article 12.  All  persons,  banking  and other  companies,  public establishments  and mercantile  firms, are  forbidden  to  have  in their  possession,  on  their own account or  that of  others, any of  the  documents mentioned not  provided with  the  proper  stamp.

Article 13.  Drafts  issued in the  service  of  the Internal Revenue Offices and  the Treasury Departments will not be regarded as commercial documents  and  will be exempt  from the  use of  stamps.

Article 14.  In copies of  the   protests and  drafts  there will be used stamped paper of  the Court Tariff.
 

Article 15.  The Minister  of' Colonies will  order  the  immediate printing of  the special  loose (adhesive) draft stamps indicated in  the preceding  Articles;  and,  in  the meantime,  the new impost (tax) on  the  documents  in reference will be paid  in the  present  loose stamps in  the manner  provided  by  the  respective regulations of  the colonial  possessions.

Article 16. By virtue of  the dispositions of the foregoing Articles, the  disposition relative to stamps of drafts in  the cited Regulations in the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico are hereby revoked.

Article  17.  The   Ministers  will  dictate  the  necessary  orders  for enforcing  the   present  Decree,  and  give  due  account   thereof   to   the Cortes.  [82]

Given  in  the  Palace the  29th  of  May 1894.  -  MARIA CRISTINA. The  Minister of Colonies,   Manuel  Bacerra y Bermudez.

A new series of  Giro stamps,  consisting of   twenty-one denominations from 5 centimos  to  15  pesos, was  issued in 1895 in accordance with the Royal Decree of May 29, 1894,  above quoted. This  issue was withdrawn and replaced by another  issue on  January 1, 1896.  The vermilion Giro stamps of  the issue  of  1895 was  in use  for  not more than one year,  are now  the  rarest, of the  Giro stamps.

The Royal  Decree  of  July  17,   1836,  which extended  the use of  stamped paper for Drafts to the Spanish Colonies,  provided  that each  issue of stamped  paper  for  Documentos  de Giro should  serve for  ten years. [83] This  provision of  the law was not altered by the Royal Order of  October 28,  1878, by which  adhesive Giro stamps were  created  to  replace the stamped paper for this  purpose.  Hence,  the  series of   adhesive Giro  stamps issued in  1880 remained  in use until replaced by the issue of 1888. The issue of  1888  was made necessary  by the  revision of  the tariff  of  the stamp  tax on  drafts effected by  the  Royal  Decree of May 16, 1886. Beginning with  the  issue of  1888,   the  practice of  issuing a new series of Giro stamps for each biennial period was adopted. The  cancellations on specimens in  the  collection of  the writer indicate that  the series of claret Giro  stamps, which  Forbin lists as  issued in 1891, really  appeared  in  1890. Bartels, Foster, and  Palmer indicate the date of issue as 1890, followed by a question mark. Likewise cancellations  seen by  the writer  indicate that the ultramarine  series, which  both  Forbin and Bartels, Foster, and Palmer list as  issued  in  1893,  really appeared  in  1892.  An olive brown  issue appeared on January 1, 1894. These biennial  periods coincided with  the  biennial  periods for which  the  stamped paper  was   issued. A few days  before  the  beginning of  each biennial period  the  Superintendent of  Finance  issued a  circular to all provincial treasurers  requiring that all stamped  paper  and  obsolete adhesive stamps of  the previous  biennial period to  be  retired from circulation during  the  first month  (January)  of the new biennial  period.  The  holders  of  unused stamped  paper  and  obsolete adhesive stamps were instructed to have them  exchanged  for stamped  paper and adhesive  stamps  of  like class and denominations  of  the  new  biennial period. [84]