MANILA, Philippines—James Kocher, a son-in-law of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, operates Port Irene’s vehicle yard that has attracted dozens of importers and converters of right-hand-drive vehicles from the Subic Freeport.

“He’s not being paid by the government. He’s paid by me. He’s my son-in-law,” Enrile said Wednesday.

A National Bureau of Investigation official described Kocher as a retired US Navy officer in his early 50s and with roots in Davao.

Kocher’s group facilitates tax payments for vehicles shipped into Port Irene in Sta. Ana, Cagayan, according to a Metro Manila-based businessman who has contacts with people involved in smuggling at the Subic Bay Freeport.

“It passes through him,” the source said, citing information from smugglers in Subic.

Via Roro

The vehicles arrive via Roro (roll on, roll off) ships and the items are “not smuggled in,” the source said.

The source, who asked not to be named to protect his business, said the shipments were legal because importers were paying taxes.

He confirmed reports that car importers previously doing business in Subic had moved to the Cagayan Export Zone (CEZ) after the Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that imported used cars could be brought into the Subic free port provided these were resold overseas.

Kocher, who came in loose polo, slacks and loafers, to the Senate press conference presided over by Enrile, said the yard he was operating earned only P320,000 a year from rent.

Mostly from Japan

But the business generated more than P100 million in taxes and duties for the government from only P300,000 annually when business began in June 2005, he said.

Kocher said that the 7,625 used vehicles brought into Port Irene in the last three years were mostly from Japan (80 percent) and Korea (15 percent).

He said 58 percent of the imports were 1995 to 1999 models and 37 percent were 1990 to 1994 models.

Fifty-seven percent of the vehicles were passenger vans such as Toyota Hi-Ace and Kia Caravan, while 15 percent were sport utility vehicles such as Mitsubishi Pajero and Isuzu Big Horn, he said.

It was Kocher who met with representatives of American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham), who visited the CEZ in May.

In a report after the visit, Amcham said the CEZ had replaced Subic Freeport as the country’s entry point for imported second-hand vehicles.

Short meeting

Kocher described the meeting with Amcham representatives as very short.

“When Amcham was there about three months ago, I did approach Amcham and thanked it for coming to CEZ because I thought, initially, they’re gonna invest,” Enrile’s son-in-law said.

“Mr. John Forbes (the team leader) said: ‘We’re not there to invest. We’re here to look around.’ I asked: ‘Look around for what?’ and Forbes said, ‘About the cars coming in,”’ said Kocher.

Books open

Kocher said the CEZ had formed a panel with the Bureau of Customs and opened the books to their visitors.

“You look at all the books and there is no smuggling there. And then they (Amcham) saw everything was by the blue-book value. I told them if you want to see how much money the government is earning you can compare it with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the cars that they brought in,” Kocher said.

Amcham noted that Port Irene was the new home of former second-hand vehicle importers in Subic.

A former top official in Zambales said 80 percent of car importers in the Subic Bay Freeport were already operating in the CEZ.

The importers are being used by Pakistanis as front for their car importation business, the official said. The official, however, gave no first-hand details on the supposed involvement of those foreigners in the trade.