Press Release
August 21, 2007

MIRIAM SEEKS PROBE OF OFFICIAL VIPS CODDLING CAR SMUGGLERS

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago charged that car smuggling, particularly in free port zones, is protected by "untouchable very high government officials," and called for a Senate hearing to identify them for criminal prosecution.

"The creation of a Presidential Task Force, and the ostentatious destruction of smuggled cars, are superficial remedies. The real problem is not car smuggling, but the invulnerable power of very high officials to protect smuggling rings on a regular basis," she said.

Santiago said that sometimes, the top officials of the customs bureau, the task force, or the free port authority protect the syndicates on a "retail basis," and make selective exposes of car smuggling, to appease public protest.

But she added that most of the time, these low level officials follow a hands-off policy because "very high level officials" protect smuggling on a "wholesale basis."

The senator said her suspects in Metro Manila are VIPs in the executive and legislative branches of government, while her suspects in local governments are governors and mayors of LGUs where a free port zone is located.

The senator said that this alleged protection racket is self-evident, citing the endemic nature of car smuggling, and the common practice of smuggling cars in free port zones, even if there are regular customs zones in the same area.

"The main function of a free port zone is to import foreign goods, enhance their value with Philippine labor, and re-export them immediately without reaching the domestic market. This is why a free port zone is placed outside Customs jurisdiction. The problem is that the cars are not re-exported abroad but smuggled outside of the free port zone for domestic use," she said.

The senator said that the real test of the political will to stop car smuggling is if the administration resolve to amend all free port laws, known as charters, to either place car importers under Customs jurisdiction, or to prohibit completely motor vehicle imports in the free port zones.

"The exemption of free port zones like Subic from Customs jurisdiction is a standing invitation for smuggling. The Subic Free Port authorities should be investigated immediately, because they are indispensable to car smuggling there," the senator said.

In a resolution, Santiago called for a Senate probe on the following issues:

1. Placing free port zones under Customs jurisdiction with respect to motor vehicles, or prohibiting completely free port zones from importing motor vehicles.

2. Conducting an annual documentary inventory of motor vehicles admitted from abroad into free port zones, and matching it against an actual physical inventory of such vehicles remaining in the free port zone; if the latter is subtracted from the former, then the public will have an idea of the high degree of car smuggling in those free port zones.

3. Directing the Customs Commissioner to explain why there is lack of transparency in the setting of the floor prices of smuggled vehicles sold at auction, or in any event to explain why the present system allows smugglers to buy back their own smuggled vehicles.

4. Assessing the possible disruptive effect of the PASTF on the Bureau of Customs, on the theory that a task force under the Office of the President will only add one more layer of corruption to the smuggling process.

5. Seeking a halt to the destruction of smuggled vehicles, and amending the Customs Code, so that proceeds from smuggled car auctions shall go directly to such government agencies as the DSWD or the PGH.

6. Expressing the sense of the Senate that the perennial problem of car smuggling cannot be solved by establishing one more Task Force, but by limiting the present discretion enjoyed by Customs, Task Force, and Free Port officials to pick and choose the smuggling cases that they will expose, while turning a blind eye to other smuggling cases instigated by powerful crooks in government.

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