Agencies defying SC on used cars warned

BY DENNIS GADIL

SEN. Joker Arroyo yesterday said government agencies operating in Port Irene, Cagayan province could face severe legal sanctions for defying a Supreme Court (decision banning importation of used cars in freeport zones.

By going against a Supreme Court decision which upheld Executive Order 156, the Cagayan Export Zone, Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Land Transportation Office may have unwittingly engaged in an illegal activity, Arroyo said at the hearing of the Senate ways and means panel on alleged smuggling at Port Irene.

EO 156 prohibits the use or sale of imported second-hand vehicles outside Freeport zones. It was upheld by the SC in November 2007.

Jose Mari Ponce, administrator of Cagayan Export Zone Authority, told senators that despite the SC decision, CEZA still allowed the release of the imported vehicles outside Port Irene.

He said 9,000 second-hand vehicles, mostly from Japan, have been sold at the port since 2005.

Ponce said the imported cars were brought out of the economic zone after going through CEZA, Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Land Transportation Office.

In response, Finance undersecretary Estela Sales said EO 156 has not been implemented because there is a case before the Cagayan Regional Trial Court about its legality. This case was filed before the high court’s ruling became final and executory.

The case was filed May 2005, Sales said.

LTO chief Alberto Suansing said since duties and taxes had been paid to BIR and BoC, his agency had to register the used cars.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Sales said the cars were slapped the appropriate duties.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who inhibited himself from the hearings because Port Irene is in his turf, has insisted there was no smuggling at the economic zone.

Enrile said the used cars being imported to the port are already five years old and go through the legal processes.

During the hearing, Robert Sears, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (Amcham), denied news reports that the group had implied that there was smuggling in Port Irene.

"The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines has never made a public statement or released a report adverting to the occurrence of smuggling in Port Irene," he said.