PASG forms team to probe Cagayan port smuggling

MANILA, Philippines – The Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) is now digging into the records of the Cagayan Export Zone following reports of smuggling of luxury vehicles in Port Irene, even as Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile denied doing anything illegal.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said PASG chief Undersecretary Antonio Villar was tasked to investigate reports of the smuggling of luxury vehicles that business groups have claimed is harming local car assemblers.

Villar, in a radio interview, said he has formed a team to look into the case.

A PASG official said they immediately proceeded to the Cagayan Exporting Zone Authority (CEZA) and learned that over 7,000 used vehicles, mostly sports utility vehicles or SUVs, have entered Port Irene since 2005.

The official said Port Irene officials furnished the PASG with the records apparently “to show that they are willing to be investigated.”

The official said they are checking the documents to see whether the vehicles have paid appropriate duties.

“But there is a fundamental question that needs to be answered clearly and quickly,” the official said. “Under Executive Order No. 156, no used vehicles are allowed to enter Philippine territory.”

The EO, issued in 2002, disallows the entry of used motor vehicles into Philippine territory through freeports such as Subic.

Some Subic officials have contested the EO before the Supreme Court but the High Tribunal upheld it, saying the directive covers areas outside freeports.

The official said, under the SC ruling, once the used imported vehicles leave the freeports the EO is in force.

The PASG official said that according to the CEZ officials, the EO does not cover Port Irene.

The PASG official also asked why the Bureau of Customs continues to receive duties, whether they were correct or not, on the entry of the used vehicles. He also asked why the Land Transportation Office, in turn, allows the registration of these vehicles.

The official, however, admitted that the EO appears to have some gray areas that needed to be clarified by the SC since the same are being used to justify the importation of second-hand vehicles for local sale.

Up in arms

Meanwhile, Enrile questioned the propriety of officers of the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) to raise a howl over the importation of second-hand luxury vehicles in Port Irene.

The pro-administration senator was not happy with the report of the Amcham, which pointed at Port Irene as a haven for second-hand cars in the country, replacing Subic.

Enrile said he is ready to raise the issue of constitutionality “if they will insist on closing the CEZA.”

Enrile also defended his family and his son-in-law James Kocher over the running of operations in the area. 

“The only thing is I do not want anybody to fool around with the operations there to cheat the government,” Enrile said in a hastily called press conference at the Senate yesterday.

Kocher, who was seated beside Enrile, is assigned to monitor operations of the yard as well as all vehicles that come in and out of the CEZA. 

“Modesty aside I haven’t smuggled even a toothpick to this country,” the veteran senator added.

Kocher has been managing the yard for three years. The yard is earning P320,000 annually from the operation of the same, and he is not receiving any salary from CEZA.

The Amcham reported that the current CEZA operators appeared to be trying to keep under the radar by staying small. But the operators and the sales volume are steadily growing and “could someday have more of an impact on the legal auto manufacturing industry,” it said.  – Christina Mendez