Wednesday, January 09, 2008 LTO official accuses PASG of misleading media on car smuggling in Cebu
THE Land Transportation Office (LTO) yesterday said the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) gave the wrong information on vehicle smuggling in Cebu.
Speaking at the LTO 7 turnover of command from Director Alex Leyson to Raul Aguilus, Assistant Secretary Reynaldo Berroya also said that because of the controversy, the LTO might register imported vehicles in its central office in Manila.
“We will do this so we can pinpoint responsibility and we will have more control at the central office. In the first place, confirmations of CP (certificate of payment of taxes) are done in Metro Manila by customs,” Berroya said.
If this plan is implemented, the LTO district offices in various regions will only retain the task to renew vehicle registrations.
Meanwhile, Berroya said that the LTO has conducted its own investigation on the alleged registration of smuggled vehicles, even before the issue made headlines.
“Remember that we have to revamp some LTO registrars if only to show that we are transparent and we will not tamper with records,” Berroya said.
He added that there are “quite a lot of missing links” and the investigating team wants to go further.
On the 81 units of allegedly smuggled luxury cars seized by the PASG in Manila recently, 22 have no LTO records on file, 13 have illegally transferred number plates, and 47 others are legally registered.
Of the 47 units, only six are registered with LTO 7: two each from Cebu City, Toledo City and Mandaue City.
These luxury cars—BMW, Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royce models—were seized by PASG while being fixed at the motor shop owned by businessman Antonio Cojuangco.
“As per LTO records, the luxury cars listed in the names of these businessmen and which are now in PASG custody have corresponding payments of duties and taxes to the Bureau of Customs, from P1.8 million to P8.1 million,” Berroya said.
Worse, Berroya said, the PASG made it appear that all the 81 vehicles were registered with the LTO in Cebu.
He added that the transfer of Leyson to LTO 8, based in Tacloban City, and his replacement by Aguilus should not be construed as chastisement, because Leyson has nothing to do with the registration of vehicles.
“We only transferred him (Leyson) to dispel doubts while the House committee on good government’s investigation is ongoing,” Berroya said.
The turnover of command yesterday signaled Aguilus’ official assumption of duty in Cebu. Leyson said he will report to Tacloban City today.
Aguilus said he will institute reforms at LTO 7 and asked his subordinates to support him. (EOB)
