DOJ: No legal impediment in destruction of smuggled vehicles
The Department of Justice concurs with Department of Finance and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol that there is no legal impediment to the destruction of smuggled vehicles.
Section 2609 (c) of the Tariff and Customs Code (TACC) provides that articles of prohibited importation or exportation, known as contraband, may be destroyed as the collector sees fit.
“It does not preclude destruction as a manner of disposition, especially if, in the exercise of the police power of the State, the concerned officials have seen fit to send a strong message to smugglers who would now think hard before deciding to pursue their nefarious activities knowing that they would no longer get away with such activities with impunity,” Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said in a memorandum.
“And the rampant smuggling, if left unchecked, will continue to deprive the government of the revenues needed to finance projects to promote the general welfare,” he added.
Last Thursday, four backhoes tore 18 luxury vehicles worth P30 million into shreds at the Subic Bay Economic Zone impounding compound in Olongapo City to dramatize what officials said was the government’s strong resolve against smugglers and their protectors in government.
President Arroyo had ordered the Bureau of Customs to destroy the seized luxury vehicles. She said the seized vehicles might end up in the hands of smugglers if auctioned off.
However, 14 of the most expensive seized cars, including a Porsche, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari, were spared from destruction reportedly for legal reasons.
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government will continue to destroy smuggled motor vehicles if it will curb the perennial problem of smuggling in the country.
“We will continue this if we see the results consistent with our expectations,” Teves told reporters in a briefing.
He disclosed that the government loses P64 to P65 billion annually in potential revenues due to smuggling.
Customs Deputy Commissioner Alexander Arevalo said the agency would continue to step up efforts against smuggling as local businessmen have consistently called for the prosecution of smugglers.
Fiscal authorities are hoping that measures against smuggling would help boost revenues and allow the government to wipe out the budget deficit, which stood at P39.4 billion from January to July this year. The government hopes to cap the deficit at P63 billion by yearend.
Budget, Customs officials charged
Meanwhile, four former agents of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed charges against officials of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Bureau of Customs for failure to facilitate payment of their reward for their help in the seizure of a vessel used for smuggling 17 years ago.
The complainants – Ruben Zacarias, Virgilio Pablico, Gil Meneses, all lawyers, and retired police Inspector Romeo Cudia – filed their complaint yesterday before the Office of the Ombudsman against Budget Assistant Secretary Evelyn Guerrero and Customs chief Napoleon Morales.
The complainants are demanding some P30.1 million and its legal interest as their reward for being instrumental in the seizure and forfeiture of M/V Star Ace on
Through their efforts, the complainants said government agents caught unscrupulous individuals in the act of unloading smuggled goods or highly dutiable goods in Poro Point in
The complainants claimed that the Committee on Reward has approved their payment last Feb. 12. However, when the Customs forwarded the order of payment to Guerrero’s office, the official reportedly did not act on it favorably.
In their six-page complaint, the four claimed that Guerrero violated a provision of Republic Act 3019 or the anti-graft and corrupt practices act, which was also committed by Morales when he failed to facilitate the payment.
“We have waited 17 years for this. We raised the possibility that the payment of our reward through restitution by substitution may be paid from the funds coming from the current collections of the bureau,” read the statement. – With Iris Gonzales, Cecille Suerte Felipe
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