Arroyo orders PASG to probe Cagayan car imports
By Tonette Orejas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:17:00 07/25/2008
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Thursday directed the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group to investigate the reported smuggling of used vehicles into the Cagayan Economic Zone.
Undersecretary Antonio Villar, PASG chief, said the presidential directive was relayed to him by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
“The President wants us to specifically confirm if there were violations of the Supreme Court ruling on Executive Order No. 156,” Villar told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).
In an Oct. 30, 2007, resolution, the Supreme Court made a final ruling denying the motion of the Motor Vehicles Importers Association of the Subic Bay Freeport to sell imported used cars in the country.
Villar said the PASG’s investigation of the reported smuggling at the CEZ began two months ago on the request of administration Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.
The PASG’s work has been limited to monitoring car shipments and evaluating import permits, Villar said. The agency has been watching several groups whose names he did not disclose.
Armand Arreza, administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), said the SBMA had not endorsed any locator to the CEZ.
Some locators have requested for transshipment permits but the agency has not issued any since October 2007 when the SBMA banned the entry and withdrawal of imported vehicles in compliance with the high court’s ruling.
There were 101 registered car importers at the Subic Bay Freeport before the EO 156 was issued, according to Arreza. These went down to 41 when the SBMA suspended the importation and withdrawal of units.
A total of 2,970 vehicles had been impounded in various yards since October 2007.
The late Maj. Gen. Jose Calimlim, former deputy administrator of the SBMA, estimated that out of the 60,000 cars and heavy equipment imported yearly via the Subic Bay Freeport, about 3,000 entered without import permits.
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