Monday, September 24, 2007
BOC chief tells subordinates to be vigilant, dares critics
DISTRICT Collector Ricardo Belmonte of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu has asked his subordinates to be vigilant against vehicle smuggling.
This, he said amid the circulation of “white papers” accusing him of tolerating smuggling or conniving with perpetrators.
Belmonte feared that the black propaganda, reportedly made by a group of disgruntled customs brokers, may succeed if he and his men fail to stop illegal activities at the port.
Seized
“If you look at the seized used luxury vehicles lined up at the CIP (Cebu International Port), you will know that we are not remiss in running after smuggling while trying our best to meet our target collections”, he said.
Belmonte and Commissioner Napoleon Morales have led the opening of vans containing illegally imported vehicles at the CIP several times.
Allegation
Meanwhile, contrary to the report of a local newspaper (not Sun.Star Cebu), records at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) showed that registered Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) in Cebu do not number 25,000.
The allegation was made by a dealer of brand new cars who believed that the SUVs were smuggled vehicles.
LTO 7 Director Alex Leyson said there are only 3,303 registered SUVs in Central Visayas. He said the 25,000 SUVs the car dealer referred to were registered units in the entire country.
He said that the 3,303 units include brand new Ford Expeditions, Toyota Fortuners, Honda CRVs and Suzuki Grand Vitara models sold by the manufacturers’ agents.
For the past three years, registrations of private-use vehicles and public utility vehicles (PUVs) decreased while government-use vehicles increased.
Increase
There were 411,189 privately-owned vehicles registered by LTO 7 in 2004. The number decreased to 346,789 in 2005, and increased to 393,057 in 2006.
PUVs numbered 51,001 in 2004, decreased to 47,433 in 2005, and further decreased to 43,124 in 2006.
The figures include motorcycles, multicabs, utility trucks, V-Hire and buses.
Registered
Robert Go, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry past president, said that multicabs are commonly used by small and medium enterprises such as bakeries, water refilling stations and grocery stores for product delivery.
Registered government vehicles, meanwhile, numbered 6,639 in 2004, decreased to just 4,077 in 2005, but increased to 11,633 units last year.
The vehicles include 10 used SUVs that customs office forfeited and donated to the Cebu City Government. (EOB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 24, 2007 issue)
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