The  uses of some of   these denominations of  CUSTOMS  stamps may be inferred from various provisions  of  the  laws governing   the collection of customs   fees.  Section 392 of Act 355,  above quoted,   did not specify the use of stamps  as the  means of collecting the  fees prescribed therein, and Section 285 specifically required  that the  "fees for the certificates of protection, or of  licenses for the  coasting   trade, or other papers pertaining  thereto,  shall be received in cash".   It therefore seems evident that Act 355 did not contemplate  the use of  stamps  as the means of collecting these fees,   although it  did not specifically prohibit such use of CUSTOMS  stamps.    And the  fact that only three denominations - 20 cents, 50 cents and  2 dollars - were  issued in 1902  indicates that the stamps were not applied to the collection of the  fees prescribed by Section 392 of Act 355.    But the one dollar,  2 1/2 dollars and  5 dollar denominations subsequently issued were denominations which would be convenient for collecting   the fees prescribed by Section 392. 

It is also  possible  that the 5-cents denominations was issued in order   to  permit the collection in stamps of  the fee of   25 cents per   thousand for a permit   to   take cigarettes aboard ship. A 20 cent denomination was already available, and  20 cents plus  5 cents equals 25 cents.    Original permits  from the collection of Dr.  Perry show  that revenue stamps were affixed  to permits to take cigars and cigarettes aboard ship  in payment of  the  fees for  such permits, as early as  1899.    This  practice seems   to  have been  abandoned for a time subsequent to the passage of Act 355; but denominations of CUSTOMS stamps  issued subsequent  to   1903  indicate that the use of customs  stamps for the collection of  the fees prescribed by Section 392 of Act 355, and for  the collection of fees which are not included in either   Section 284 or Section 392, must have been established by Administrative Order of   the Collector of Customs,  perhaps as early as  1905. It appears that,  as a general rule,  each new use of  Customs  stamps was first initiated by Administrative Order  and subsequently prescribed by law when the convenience of  the practice became evident.    Subsequent  to  1903,  several  laws enacted prescribing  the  issuance of various documents by the Bureau Customs but leaving  the manner of  collecting  the fees for the issuance of   these documents   to  the discretion of   the Collector of Customs.

Act 1136,   enacted April 30,   1904,  provided that "the Collector of Customs is authorized,   empowered,   and  directed to   issue  licenses to engage in lighterage or other exclusively harbor business  to vessels or other craft..." No license fee was prescribed by the  Act but Section 5 provided that "the Collector of Customs of  the Philippine Islands in hereby authorized, empowered, and directed to promptly make and publish suitable rules and regulations to carry this law into effect and to regulate the business herein licensed."    Section 2 of Act 1387,  enacted on September  5,  1905, provided that all vessels engaged in lighterage or other exclusively harbor business  should pay one peso,  Philippine Currency, per registered net ton for  their annual licenses,  but did not specify the manner of collecting this fee.    Eventually the Administrative Code (Act 2711) approved March 10, 1917,  and made effective on October  1,  1917, prescribed that these fees,  as well as many other  fees,   should be collected by affixing Customs  stamps   to  the documents for  the issuance of which the fees were collected.     It is  probable that many of  that many of the fees whose collection in stamps had not hitherto bean prescribed by law were actually being collected in stamps prior  to the  time that such collection was prescribed by the Administrative Code of 1917. 

In 1917, probably on October 1st, a new aeries of CUSTOMS DOCUMENTARY stamps was issued with the denominations expressed in Philippine currency, centavos and pesos, two pesos being equivalent  to one dollar, U.S. Currency.