Thursday, February 07, 2008 They connive, witnesses say By Elias O. Baquero Sun.Star Staff Reporter
MANILA – Officials of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) connived with brokers and importers in the registration of smuggled and stolen vehicles, congressmen were told yesterday.
A congressman also criticized the failure to punish government officials involved in anomalies and said those responsible were even given better government positions.
But members of the House of Representatives committee on good government, chaired by Rep. Pedro Romualdo (Camiguin), told the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) to gather more evidence so that those responsible can be charged in court.
Documents submitted by PASG and the LTO showed that the Toledo City LTO registered more than a thousand luxury vehicles without the necessary requirements such as certificates of payment (CPs) of duties and taxes from the BOC, commercial invoices and bills of lading.
Next
Gavino Padin, who was the Toledo City LTO registrar when the questioned registrations took place, will be summoned to the next hearing, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 13.
LTO officials who attended yesterday’s hearing at the House were Executive Director Jimmy Pesega, LTO 7 Director Raul Aguilus, LTO 8 Director Alex Leyson, and LTO-Cebu City Registrar Alita Pulga.
Leyson, who used to be the LTO 7 director, told the committee that after PASG reported apprehending 1,200 sports utility vehicles registered in Toledo City, he immediately relieved Padin and transferred him to the LTO v-hire extension office in Cebu City.
Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, South) questioned LTO officials why they did not bring Padin with them when he is in the middle of the controversy on the vehicle registration.
30 percent
PASG Executive Director Guillermo Francia lV said that of the 1,200 vehicles registered with the LTO-Toledo that they seized, 30 percent had plate numbers that were illegally transferred because these were issued in Manila.
Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro) asked LTO officials what violation was committed in the transfer of plates. Pesaga explained that under Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation Code, vehicle owners who register their vehicles in a particular LTO office are required to get the license plate from the same office.
Pesaga said those who illegally transfer license plates commit grave misconduct, an offense that is punishable with dismissal from service.
That is as far as the administrative aspect of the law is concerned. It would be better if those involved must be charged with the Office of the Ombudsman, said Rodriguez.
Rep. Monico Puentebella (Bacolod) said BOC and LTO employees responsible for the registration will be punished once the committee uncovers the truth on the allegations of rampant smuggling in Cebu.
Puentebella said he cannot understand why despite the smuggling of goods for a long time, no smuggler or accomplice has been charged or punished.
Connivance
“It seems the people in the BOC and LTO who are involved in this anomaly are given a better position,” Puentebella said.
PASG Cebu Director Ariel Palcuto said that last year, they filed smuggling charges against a man after they seized two untaxed imported vehicles in Mandaue City. He said, however, that the case was dismissed by the City Prosecutor’s Office because the man denied ownership of the vehicles.
Francia and PASG Operations Chief Edmund Arugay told congressmen there was connivance between LTO and BOC officials and brokers in the registration of stolen or smuggled vehicles.
During the hearing, Pulga admitted that in Central Visayas, the difference between registered vehicles with complete requirements and those without was 4,000 units. Pulga said LTO is still verifying why these units do not have requirements on file.
Pesaga, in yesterday’s hearing, said the LTO is like any other organization that is bound to have some scalawags among its ranks.
BOC Port of Cebu District Collector Ricardo Belmonte was asked how his office operated in connection with the issue.
Belmonte said that Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales issued an order that required all CPs to be issued by the port concerned. But the document will only be issued after importation papers are sent to the Valuation Review Internal System (VRIS), under the Office of the Commissions (Ocom), for evaluation.
Process
The approval is then sent back to the port concerned for the issuance of a CP. The CP will then be referred to the Vehicle Importation Clearance Monitoring Unit (VICMU), which will forward it to the LTO central office in Manila. The LTO head office will then forward the CP to the concerned LTO registrar.
What is undervaluation and underpayment of duties and taxes and why is this happening at customs?” Romualdo asked Belmonte.
Belmonte explained that sometimes, the processing of import documents does not pass through the proper channels. He said he refers these transactions to the Run After the Smugglers (Rats) group of the BOC for investigation.
Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, North) said that to avoid a similar incident in the future, the BOC and LTO must have proper coordination in the registration of imported vehicles.
Cuenco, on the other hand, said that they will create a sub-committee who will go to Toledo City LTO to examine documents there.
