BOC monitoring GenSan for vehicle smuggling

MANILA, Philippines - Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla believes General Santos City is being used to smuggle completely knocked down vehicles.

“That’s why we pay attention,” he said.

“If there are cases when an importer brings some cars via General Santos City, we would check the address of the importer and it’s in Quezon City. So we would wonder, if it’s in Quezon City and these are luxurious cars like Porsche, in Gen San, who else can afford to buy this kind of car except Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao... So it is really suspicious.”

Sevilla said smugglers are using different ports to ship completely knocked down vehicles.

At the moment, General Santos City is their chosen gateway, he added.

Sevilla said the smuggling of these vehicles is “very fast moving.”

“If you will monitor the ports from month to month, they come in from different ports,” he said. At the moment, General Santos City is their chosen gateway.

Sevilla said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is monitoring the situation, but they have not yet taken any legal action against the smugglers.

At least three incidents have been recorded in the past two weeks, he added.

Sevilla said the vehicles are smuggled through the Port of General Santos, but their destination is Metro Manila.

Sevilla said smugglers use other ports when authorities are on the lookout for their cargo.

“This is challenging for us because we have to guess which port they would try to access next,” he said. “You would have to be on guard in ports where there is little activity.”