Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Customs commissioner Napoleon Morales and district collector Maria Lourdes Mangaoang opened last Saturday afternoon the 40-footer van allegedly consigned to Saturn Trading.
Customs police intercepted the van, which contained two right-hand-drive Mercedez Benzes and a BMW, last week at the Cebu International Port. Customs officials, however, believe that the consignee is a fictitious name.
Mangaoang said that a warrant of seizure and detention will be issued against the vehicles. She added that these will be auctioned by the government.
She also warned smugglers that they will be properly charged in court as soon as they are caught. She likewise threatened to revoke the accreditation of the brokers caught facilitating the release of smuggled shipment.
Meanwhile, Teves and Morales joined Mangaoang last Saturday in the inauguration of the new Customs building constructed by the Cebu Ports Authority.
Mangaoang said the new Customs building would foster trade facilitation because it is strategically located near the Cebu International Port. She said it is also a one-stop-shop building wherein all the offices are grouped together for easy and faster transactions.
Mangaoang said the examination would not anymore take a long time because the container yard is of walking distance from the building. The CPA provided the two-story building to the Bureau of Customs upon the order of President Gloria Arroyo because the century-old building that used to house the Customs near the Plaza Independencia was converted into the Malacañang sa Sugbo, the official residence of the president in Cebu. - Fred P. Languido