Customs Modernization and Tariff Act
Section 1133. Constructive Distraint of the Property. - To safeguard the interest of the government, the Commissioner may place under constructive distraint the property of a delinquent importer who, in the opinion of the Commissioner, is retiring from any business subject to duty and tax, or is intending to leave the Philippines, or to remove the property therefrom, or to hide or conceal the property, or to perform any act tending to obstruct the proceedings for collecting the duty and tax due, or which may be due.
The constructive distraint of personal property shall be effected by requiring the importer or any person in possession or control of such property to sign a receipt covering the property, to obligate to preserve the distrained property on the state and condition at the time of the government's seizure of the same, and not to dispose of the same in any manner whatsoever, without the express authority of the Commissioner.
In case the importer or the person in possession and control of the property sought to be placed under constructive distraint refuses or fails to sign the receipt herein referred to, the customs officer effecting the constructive distraint shall proceed to prepare a list of such property and, in the presence of two (2) witnesses, leave a copy thereof in the premises where the property distrained is located, after which the said property shall be deemed to have been placed under constructive distraint.