LTO asked not to register cars missing in Subic

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—A top customs official here is asking the Land Transportation Office (LTO) not to register vehicles that may have been taken out of the free port after a ban on the importation of used vehicles took effect in 2007.

Errol Albano, chief of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) office in  the Subic port, said he was sending a list of the missing vehicles to the LTO so the agency could verify in its data base whether any of them has been registered.

Asked how many of the vehicles were still unaccounted for, Albano declined to give a figure. Earlier reports said some 1,800 vehicles were missing from the 2,907 used cars inventoried by BOC officials in 2007.

“But we’re giving all importers involved every opportunity to clear this with us. So far, there have been a few who have shown us re-export documents. Others have shown that the duties for their vehicles were paid before the EO was issued in 2007. Those vehicles are exempt,” Albano said.

The 2,907 used cars earlier inventoried here were placed in storage yards by their owners after the government banned the sale of imported used vehicles.

The ban, contained in Executive Order No. 156 issued by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2007, was in compliance with new tariff agreements that took effect that year.

However, a new inventory conducted by the BOC and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority could no longer account for 1,800 vehicles.