Saturday, September 15, 2007 Talk back: Thanks, Sun.Star By Jim Debellis
OUR family would like to thank Sun.Star for your assistance in getting our car through Customs. Once you printed our daughter Ruby’s letter to President Arroyo everything went much smoother, faster, and better.
Yesterday (September 13) we finally got our car!
We would also like to thank Felix Guanzon of Malacañang sa Sugbo for helping us cut through the bureaucratic red tape and get the proper valuation and duty for our car.
Assistant Chief Florante Ricarte of the Bureau of Customs and District Collector Ricardo Belmonte and the others were also very concerned and helpful.
The process was very professional and above board. We paid about $5,700 in fees to get our car, which is worth from $11,000 to $13,000, so be assured that we did not get special treatment or bend the rule of law.
Prior to your involvement, however, we were being asked for about $11,500—the full value of the car---based on a valuation that was well in excess of the true value of the vehicle.
The people at the highest levels in all of the concerned offices made sure that we were charged just the right amount.
That said, we still feel that the Philippines’ import fees for personal use automobiles and other personal items are quite punitive, unreasonable, and very far above international standards.
These kinds of fees, which have taken more than everything we hoped to earn here in our first year (more than P300,000 including the fees for our furniture), are very inconsistent with the government’s efforts to attract foreign retirees and investors and to make Cebu a “Mecca of tourism.”
We hope that our case will help bring some reform and relief for families like us in the near future.
