Car smuggling in the land of Daang Matuwid?

Allow me first to congratulate my good friend, Mr. Eduardo “Boging” & Ruth Palacios, Jr. whose daughter Lesley Ruth, who now works and resides in Vancouver, Canada, is getting formally hitched today to Mr. Don Macmillan in a simple wedding ceremony at the Archbishop’s Palace. Actually, both Don and Lesley already tied the knot in Canada way back in December 2010. But like all Filipino families, her family wanted to have a formal wedding here in Cebu and that magic moment has arrived for Don and Lesley today. Of course after this formal wedding, they go back to Vancouver where they live with their loving dog Ninja and get back to work. Congratulations Don and Lesley.

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While we’re still in a congratulatory mood, allow me to join the Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. Cebu Chapter in commending Cebu Customs District Collector Atty. Ronnie Silvestre who is being transferred to the Clark Zone Authority by his boss, Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon.

I personally know Atty. Silvestre to be an upright man… to the point he is often dubbed a “square peg in a round hole” in the Bureau of Customs where smuggling is the norm rather than the exception. But under his watch, Cebu experienced a multi-billion-target collection that few of his predecessors ever met. I had Atty. Silvestre speak before our Rotary Club and had him as a guest on my TV show because I know that he had nothing to hide. Kudos to you Atty. Silvestre and I’m proud to call you my friend.

Meanwhile, still on Customs issues, we saw all those photos from the national dailies of all those used luxury SUVs and sports cars parked in Port Irene, Cagayan Valley. Rumor has it that, this business belonged to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE), however everything about this is talked about in hushed tones in many coffeehouses in Makati.

But all of a sudden, Port Irene is now open season for the media to scrutinize and dig deeper on those reports that whether or not JPE is involved in this operation. I have knowledge that a couple of years back, there was someone conducting an investigative report in Port Irene, where they came up with so many photos of sports cars and SUVs… but then silence.

Don’t get me wrong, Port Irene isn’t supposed to be a smuggling operation as it has legitimate papers and dubbed as a “free port” or the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport operated by the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) in Sta. Ana, Cagayan. But used luxury cars parked outside the freeport cannot be hidden from prying eyes. Worse, these cars are now found on many Philippine roads with proper license plates.

    So a group of car dealers filed a case questioning the constitutionality of an Executive Order (EO) banning used-car importation into the country in the hope that it would address this “gray” area. Well, the other day the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of EO-156 signed by then President Gloria MacapagalArroyo way back in the year 2002. This means, the happy days in Port Irene are over and done with. But then, you know too well that in this country… it only depends upon the closeness of the smuggling operators to the reigning political leadership.

Mind you, this suit was filed by car dealers against the operators of Port Irene way back in the year 2008 citing a similar case filed against the Subic Freeport in Zambales. Can we blame our current snail paced justice system for this long delayed decision? All that the Judiciary had to do was fly to Port Irene and see the operation there and they would immediately know whether this was a smuggling operation or not? But it took them five years?

Or should we pin the blame on the Aquino Regime, who was literally “in bed” with JPE and his political bandwagon? Thus, even with his DaanMatuwid statements, Pres. Aquino may have turned a blind eye on the operations of Port Irene. Remember early in his Presidency, PNoy had a nice but used luxury Porsche? He did get a lot of flak from having this sports car to the point that until today, no one knows where he acquired this sports car and when he sold it… we don’t even know who bought it. In fact many pundits are even asking whether that Porsche was shipped through Port Irene? I just hope Malacañang would come clean on that issue, even this late.

Anyway, pundits view the SC decision as a huge minus factor against JPE, who is the longtime political warlord in Cagayan Valley. But will it stop car smuggling in the Philippines? I doubt it! Corruption here has become endemic, it is the norm and only the good guys are the exception.

Again, car smuggling operators cannot do this by themselves alone. They need and have the support of the unscrupulous characters inside the Land Transportation Office (LTO) who gets licenses and plates for these smuggled vehicles. So what’s new in the land of Daang Matuwid huh?

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