There's no smuggling of used cars in Port Irene in Cagayan, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Wednesday, citing findings of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG).
In his weekly press conference, Ermita said PASG chief Antonio Villar has been to Port Irene to look into allegations of smuggling of used cars and he "found out there's no smuggling."
Cagayan is the home province of administration Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
Ermita said Villar's findings are validated by the statement of officials of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (AmCham) before the Senate Tuesday that it has not released a report which states that there is smuggling in Port Irene, contrary to news reports published last week by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Ermita said the Supreme Court decision in 2007 upholding President Arroyo's Executive Order 156 banning the importation of used motor vehicles in free port zones, except under certain conditions, "pertains to smuggling in Subic." Thus, the SC decision applies to Subic but "not necessarily to Port Irene."
He said the president has another executive order on tariffs on used motor vehicles and this should be applied in the free port zones on a case-to-case basis.
On Senator Francis Escudero's statements that four government agencies may be tolerating smuggling in Port Irene, Ermita said it is up to the investigating committees of the Senate to come up with their findings and evidence, but according to the PASG, "they did not find any smuggling at all."
Senate hearing
In a Senate hearing on alleged smuggling activities in Port Irene Tuesday, Sen. Joker Arroyo said that by going against a Supreme Court decision which upheld Executive Order 156, four agencies under Malacañang--Cagayan Export Zone, Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Land Transportation Office--may have unwittingly engaged in illegal activity.
President Arroyo's Executive Order 156, which prohibits the use or sale of imported second-hand vehicles outside freeport zones, was upheld by the high court in November 2007.
Cagayan Export Zone Authority (CEZA) Administrator Jose Mari Ponce admitted during the hearing that despite the SC decision, the port authority still allowed the release of the imported vehicles outside Port Irene.
He said a total of 9,000 second-hand vehicles, mostly from Japan, have been sold at the port since 2005.
Ponce claimed the imported cars were brought out of the economic zone after going through CEZA, Bureau of Customs (BoC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Land Transportation Office (LTO).
"Agencies of the executive branch of government participated in what may, I’m not saying it is, but what may be an illegal act," Arroyo said.
He added that the LTO had the last touch before the "forbidden cars" were allowed to roam around the country.
In response to Arroyo's statement, Finance Undersecretary Estela Sales said EO 156 has not been implemented in Port Irene because there is a pending case before the Cagayan Regional Trial Court about its legality. This case was filed before the high court’s ruling on the Subic case became final and executory.
The lower court case was filed May 2005, Sales told the Senate.
LTO chief Alberto Suansing, meanwhile, said that since vehicles’ duties and taxes have been paid to the BIR and BoC, his agency "had no recourse" but to register the used cars.