Used vehicles importers seek end to SBMA row

By JOHN ANTHONY A. CONCEPCION, abs-cbnNEWS.com

An organization of importers of used vehicles inside the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) on Saturday appealed to the camps of Sen. Richard Gordon and the Magsaysay clan to cease political bickering over the issue of smuggling in the economic zone.

Officials of the Association of Philippine Auctioneers (APA) said the current row in SBMA is adversely affecting their operations.

"This political turmoil is least of what we need right now," APA president Dominique Sytin said at the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo Hotel news forum.

Administration Sen. Richard Gordon has been railing against the importation of used, right hand drive (RHD) cars in SBMA, saying that over P26 billion in tax revenues during a three-year period were lost due to alleged smuggling of second-hand imported cars, tobacco products and liquor inside SBMA.

Gordon accused President Arroyo of "transactional leadership," which he defined as staying in power through patronage politics.

In SBMA's case, Gordon said the President succumbed to the request of the Magsaysay clan, led by Zambales Gov. Vicente Magsaysay, to cancel an executive order banning the importation of second-hand cars in Subic. The Magsaysays, Gordon said, own one of the largest used vehicle importation companies in SBMA.

Sytin said APA is "being affected by the negative publicity" although it has no links to any political clan now slugging it out in SBMA.

He said buyers have expressed concern over the legality of the importation of RHD vehicles, including ten-wheeler trucks and heavy equipment, because of Gordon's tirades against what he called as "smuggling" in SBMA.

Sytin said the importation, conversion and eventual sale of RHDs in SBMA is not violative of the law, particularly RA 8506 or the Right Hand Drive Law, as long as proper taxes and duties are paid and basic registration requirements are met.

He said the legality of APA's operations had been supported by government institutions, including a committee report in the House of Representatives; and some opinion issued by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, the Department of Justice, the Department of Trade and Industry and even the Office of the President.

Edward Gocheco, APA secretary-general, said shutting down the used and imported vehicle industry would render some 300,000 individuals who depend on the industry for livelihood jobless.

Sytin, meanwhile, dismissed the notion that converted RHD vehicles are unsafe, citing a study that indicates 85 percent of all accidents in the Philippines are attributed to human error.

"There is no empirical data to support claims that converted RHD vehicles are unsafe," Sytin said.

 

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