Used car importers defy BOC order

THESE Mercedes-Benzes are awaiting buyers at a used car yard in the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport in Santa Ana, Cagayan.
RICHARD BALONGLONG/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—The entry of imported used cars into the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) continues despite a new order by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to stop the vehicles’ processing and registration.

On Monday, 234 vehicles imported from South Korea entered Port Irene, the main port of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP) in Santa Ana town in Cagayan province.

The shipment arrived more than five weeks after Customs Commissioner John Sevilla issued an order prohibiting the importation of used vehicles.

The used vehicles, which were imported by Fenix (Ceza) Inc., one of the licensed car importers at the CSEZFP, constitute the second batch of vehicles to arrive after Sevilla’s Dec. 16 memorandum.

In that memo, Sevilla reiterated the application of Executive Order No. 156, which imposes a ban on the entry of used cars at CSEZFP.

The vehicles, composed of Korean-made vans and utility vehicles, arrived at Port Irene on board MV Fesco Uelen and followed the shipment of 266 vehicles that arrived on Jan 3.

On Dec. 14, two days before Sevilla issued the memo, 347 Japanese-manufactured vehicles arrived at CSEZFP, through a Ceza-issued import permit.

Sevilla’s memo was sent to Leilani Alameda, deputy customs collector at Port of Aparri, which exercises jurisdiction over importation made through the CSEZFP.

The Inquirer sought Ceza Administrator Jose Mari Ponce for comment, but he did not respond to calls made to his mobile telephone.

But Joyce Jayme, Ceza information officer, said the Ceza was compelled by car importers to issue an import permit, invoking a recent ruling by a Cagayan Regional Trial Court that allowed used vehicle imports.

Jayme was referring to a Nov. 12 decision by Judge Neljoe Cortes of Aparri Regional Trial Court, which declared EO 156 as “inoperative” and barred government agencies from implementing it.

She said Ceza received Sevilla’s order only after they issued the import permit for the Jan. 27 shipment.

“Regardless of this, Ceza, as a free port, is allowed to import commodities within the free port territory. This is actually a normal activity in the CSEZFP since the very essence of a free port is the free flow of commodities,” she said.

The newly imported vehicles included in the three shipments, which now total 847, cannot be brought out of the free port without clearances from the BOC, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Land Transportation Office, Jayme said.

“Undisposed units within three months [from arrival] shall be confiscated in favor of Ceza or the same shall be sent back to its port of origin,” she said.

She, however, did not say who will shoulder the cost of returning the shipment.

Jaime Vicente, head of the Automotive Rebuilding Industry of Cagayan Valley, the organization of used car importers at CSEZFP, maintained the legality of their importation.

Vicente cited a Supreme Court ruling that he said upheld the constitutionality of Executive Order No. 418, which allows used vehicle imports, but modified the tariff rates.

“Fenix is importing used motor vehicles by virtue of the writ of execution, dated June 14, 2011 and issued by Branch 8 of RTC Aparri, directing the government to allow importation of used motor vehicles,” he said. Melvin Gascon, Inquirer Northern Luzon