Probe ordered on P15-B duty-free imports at Clark

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president Emmanuel Angeles has ordered an investigation into reports that investors at the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ), led by Puregold Duty Free Shop, were able to import some P15 billion worth of duty free goods in the past year alone.

Puregold is owned by businessman Lucio Co, a known ally of deposed President Joseph Estrada. Co is also said to have influential friends in the Arroyo administration.

Angeles’ order came on the heels of a privilege speech delivered on Tuesday by Angeles City board member Alex Cauguiran who said that in a period of one year, duty free imports here amounted to $289,313,611, or about P15 billion.

In his privilege speech, Cauguiran said "Puregold Duty Free store has found convenience in establishing satellite branches outside the Clark zone and import goods worth $20,335,695, or about P1.07 billion for the year 2002 alone.

From February to November, he said, Puregold imported a total of 162 container vans or 272,160 cartons of Maling (canned meat products).

"Since the quantitative limit on selling of the said product is pegged at 12 cans per customer, Puregold must have sold the Maling products to about 544,320 customers," he said in his speech.

Cauguiran also cited records indicating that from January to August last year, Puregold imported 34,500 cases or 414,000 bottles of wine and, from March to April, four container vans of cigarettes each containing 4,008 cartons.

This, he said, exceeded the CDC’s quota of only two container vans for cigarette imports.

Cauguiran said that the importations were recommended by CDC vice president for planning and business development Romeo Dyoco and approved by CDC executive vice president Jose Victor Luciano.

No official from Puregold could be reached.

For his part, Dyoco admitted that Cauguiran’s figures were reliable, but added that the importations were defensible as the CDC, with the consent of its board of directors, had already lifted the quota on importations within the CSEZ.

Meanwhile, Luciano, who is now in the US to participate in the RP-US air consultation talks in Washington DC, issued a statement saying "it is most unfortunate that, at a time when I cannot air my side and defend the truth, a controversy maligning my person is spreading within Clark and the whole of Pampanga."

"When my mission in the US is accomplished, I shall be back to lay open the truth and face the mudslinging done against me in my absence," he said in his letter.

Aside from Puregold, other smaller duty free shops, which were virtually unknown here, were also reported to have imported huge volumes of consumer items.

Cauguiran cited R.A. Nino Inc., a sub-lessor of the Metro Clark International Development Corp. (MCIDC), which imported some $788,200, or about P40 million worth of items, among them, California Mart II worth $1,586,522, and Best Buy worth $11,553,318.

Under the law, duty free shops are authorized to sell their imported products only to residents of the CSEZ and surrounding communities whose purchases at duty free shops are limited to $100 each monthly.

Apart from residents, balikbayans are also entitled to $2,000 shopping privileges per arrival, while international tourists are entitled to $1,000.