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Thursday, February 14, 2008
Anti-smuggling group members skip House hearing
By Elias O. Baquero
MANILA -- Legislators were irked Wednesday when members of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) failed to attend a House committee on good government hearing on the allegedly rampant smuggling in Cebu.
Some legislators urged Malacañang to abolish the PASG, saying the agency only duplicates the functions of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
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In Wednesday’s hearing, Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (Cebu Province, 6th district) also delivered a privilege speech criticizing the PASG for the publication of her name in a newspaper as one of the so-called personalities in PASG’s “hot list” of 29 car owners.
“The unintended perception it would generate is that I am in the category of personalities who either tolerated this illegal racket, having benefited from it, or that I am one of those tax evaders in government service,” said Ruiz.
Cleared
Rep. Pedro Romualdo, committee chairman, noted that a letter from PASG-Cebu Director Ariel Palcuto to Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr. cleared Soon-Ruiz of either involvement in or tolerance of smuggling.
“Such inclusion...never meant that all 29 cars were considered hot cars. The 29 cars were only subjected to verification, of which 15 were found to be of questionable nature... To recapitulate, the BMW car with plate number YBY 515 and registered to Nerissa S. Ruiz was only included in the survey,” read Palcuto’s letter to Villar.
The committee received a copy.
Ruiz said that with the hearing, they will review the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines to help buyers in good faith, given how car dealerships have mushroomed in Cebu.
She said people buy from these shops because the units are cheaper but they end up having to pay the tax deficiency.
“It is not fair. What the BOC should do is to find out who the importer really is. The one who should pay the tax deficiency is the importer, including the customs officials and employees, because they are the ones who released the vehicles and the ones who issued the certificate of payment (CP),” Ruiz said.
Toledo
Gavino Padin, the former registrar of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) in Toledo City, admitted that he registered 6,703 vehicles in 2006. He, however, failed to prove to the committee members that all the vehicles have complete documentation requirements, such as the CP of duties and taxes from the BOC and Certificate of Stocks Reported (CSR), including bill of lading and packing list.
The requirements are provided for in the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines and Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation Act.
Padin provoked laughter from legislators and observers when he said that when he left Toledo City, the person in charge of the records was the janitor because they are undermanned and they have no records officer.
Rep. Danilo Bichara, meanwhile, said he shared Ruiz’s concerns. He said the PASG raided a repair shop in Makati City, seized his vehicles and alleged that these were smuggled when these were not.
Alberto Suansing, who was appointed assistant secretary last Jan. 31 by President Arroyo and who had just taken over as LTO chief eight days ago, told the committee that he will not tolerate corruption in his agency.
Documents
Suansing assured legislators that all those involved in the illegal registration of vehicles will be charged in court and will be dismissed from the LTO.
Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, meanwhile, told the committee that smuggling is a lucrative business in the Philippines, with a 30 percent return on investment.
For his part, Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, 2nd district) said Padin was not telling the truth and was selective in bringing documents to the committee. He asked the committee to issue a subpoena for the documents, covering all the vehicles registered by Padin for one year.
But Romualdo deferred the issuance of the subpoena after Suansing promised to submit them during the next hearing on March 5.
Cuenco said he found it unusual for Padin to register thousands of vehicles coming from the different parts of the country, when Toledo is 60 kilometers from Cebu City.
Suansing said that the reason given by the LTO personnel in Toledo City was that the increase in the number of registration was due to their marketing strategy.
Shallow
“That, for me, is a shallow reason,” Suansing said.
Rep. Pablo John Garcia of Cebu Province’s third district, where Toledo City belongs, said that what they would like to know is whether all vehicles are properly covered by CP, bill of lading, import entry and other documents.
“It would seem that the fault really lies with customs if there is under-declaration. The vehicles will not be registered with LTO without passing customs,” Garcia said.
“I’ve heard that some of the vehicles were declared, when they came in, as parts, but are actually whole units of vehicles. If it passed customs, then the fault is with BOC. I think if we want to curb smuggling, we will not focus on LTO but on customs,” Garcia said.
“I think if we are going to change the law or propose amendments, we should make the customs appraiser principally liable for the deficiency of duties and taxes. If we want to curb smuggling, we should stop it right from the start,” he said. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (February 14, 2008 issue)
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