8 SBMA execs face raps over ‘hot’ cars
The Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) has recommended the filing of charges against eight officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for alleged conspiracy in the smuggling of luxury vehicles through the Subic Bay Freeport.
Three sources on Monday confirmed that the recommendation had been sent to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. The charges included falsification of public documents and violations of the anti-graft law.
The recommendation covered SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza, Deputy Administrator Jose Calimlim, seaport manager Perfecto Pascual, customs collector Marietta Zamoranos and four other BOC officials, according to an SBMA official who obtained a copy of the report on Friday.
The source was not among those to be charged.
Arreza and Calimlim are presidential appointees to the SBMA, a state corporation overseeing the conversion of the former Subic Naval Base into an economic zone.
“We’ve sent formal charges,” a PAGC source said when asked for confirmation. The source declined to be identified, citing the confidentiality of the work of the agency.
PAGC Chair Constancia de Guzman declined an interview on Monday.
Hidemitsu imports
In the PAGC’s protocol, formal charges are recommended when the agency has found probable cause for the filing of criminal or administrative complaints against presidential appointees.
At the core of the case is the smuggling of 16 of 24 mostly new luxury cars imported by Hidemitsu Trading Corp., a locator at the freeport. The cars were admitted to the port on Sept. 27, Oct. 5 and Oct. 6 last year, and taken out without gate passes in February.
The case findings were based on the consolidated reviews done by the BOC and the PAGC, the SBMA source said. The government lost P6 million in that single smuggling incident, the agency reported.
“The case is weak. It did not recommend charges against the smugglers, not even naming John Does as conspirators,” the source said.
“This is Morales’ work,” the same source said, referring to Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales as the one who hatched the case. “They were made the sacrificial lambs in [the BOC’s anti-smuggling campaign].”
But Morales, in a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, denied that he was behind the recommendation. “No, that’s wrong. [The] PAGC is an independent agency,” he said.
‘Without SBMA control’
Arreza said he, Calimlim and Pascual “maintain our stand that the smuggling happened without SBMA knowledge and control.”
“We were not a party to the undervaluation of taxes or registration of cars with the [Land Transportation Office],” Arreza said in a phone interview.
Aside from disclosing the full details of the Hidemitsu case in a March 15, 2007, report to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the SBMA chair said he issued a seizure order on the smuggled cars.
Calimlim had reported recovering the cars in Angeles City and Quezon City in March.
Alonso Dominguez, Hidemitsu president, said his South Korean partners took out the cars without his authority.
Zamoranos said she was “not yet around when the transactions were consummated,” noting that she assumed her post on Nov. 14, 2006.
“I am not a presidential appointee so the PAGC has no jurisdiction over me,” she said.
Zamora declined to name the four other BOC officials.
Respondents’ positions
Arreza said Ermita’s office had required the respondents to submit their positions in 10 days. The customs officials will also submit their answers, said Zamoranos.
A businessman, who used to smuggle out cars in Subic, said between 3,000 and 5,000 vehicles were being taken out of Subic yearly without proper documents and correct taxes through the connivance of the SBMA, BOC and LTO officials.
A Malacañang source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to talk about the issue, said the full report of the PAGC had been submitted to Ermita last week.
The respondents will be required to file affidavits to give them a chance to rebut the PAGC’s findings. Based on the answers, Ermita may either reverse or affirm the findings, and file a case with the Office of the Ombudsman.
Three sources on Monday confirmed that the recommendation had been sent to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. The charges included falsification of public documents and violations of the anti-graft law.
The recommendation covered SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza, Deputy Administrator Jose Calimlim, seaport manager Perfecto Pascual, customs collector Marietta Zamoranos and four other BOC officials, according to an SBMA official who obtained a copy of the report on Friday.
The source was not among those to be charged.
Arreza and Calimlim are presidential appointees to the SBMA, a state corporation overseeing the conversion of the former Subic Naval Base into an economic zone.
“We’ve sent formal charges,” a PAGC source said when asked for confirmation. The source declined to be identified, citing the confidentiality of the work of the agency.
PAGC Chair Constancia de Guzman declined an interview on Monday.
Hidemitsu imports
In the PAGC’s protocol, formal charges are recommended when the agency has found probable cause for the filing of criminal or administrative complaints against presidential appointees.
At the core of the case is the smuggling of 16 of 24 mostly new luxury cars imported by Hidemitsu Trading Corp., a locator at the freeport. The cars were admitted to the port on Sept. 27, Oct. 5 and Oct. 6 last year, and taken out without gate passes in February.
The case findings were based on the consolidated reviews done by the BOC and the PAGC, the SBMA source said. The government lost P6 million in that single smuggling incident, the agency reported.
“The case is weak. It did not recommend charges against the smugglers, not even naming John Does as conspirators,” the source said.
“This is Morales’ work,” the same source said, referring to Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales as the one who hatched the case. “They were made the sacrificial lambs in [the BOC’s anti-smuggling campaign].”
But Morales, in a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, denied that he was behind the recommendation. “No, that’s wrong. [The] PAGC is an independent agency,” he said.
‘Without SBMA control’
Arreza said he, Calimlim and Pascual “maintain our stand that the smuggling happened without SBMA knowledge and control.”
“We were not a party to the undervaluation of taxes or registration of cars with the [Land Transportation Office],” Arreza said in a phone interview.
Aside from disclosing the full details of the Hidemitsu case in a March 15, 2007, report to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the SBMA chair said he issued a seizure order on the smuggled cars.
Calimlim had reported recovering the cars in Angeles City and Quezon City in March.
Alonso Dominguez, Hidemitsu president, said his South Korean partners took out the cars without his authority.
Zamoranos said she was “not yet around when the transactions were consummated,” noting that she assumed her post on Nov. 14, 2006.
“I am not a presidential appointee so the PAGC has no jurisdiction over me,” she said.
Zamora declined to name the four other BOC officials.
Respondents’ positions
Arreza said Ermita’s office had required the respondents to submit their positions in 10 days. The customs officials will also submit their answers, said Zamoranos.
A businessman, who used to smuggle out cars in Subic, said between 3,000 and 5,000 vehicles were being taken out of Subic yearly without proper documents and correct taxes through the connivance of the SBMA, BOC and LTO officials.
A Malacañang source, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to talk about the issue, said the full report of the PAGC had been submitted to Ermita last week.
The respondents will be required to file affidavits to give them a chance to rebut the PAGC’s findings. Based on the answers, Ermita may either reverse or affirm the findings, and file a case with the Office of the Ombudsman.
By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk
Labels: boc, customs, lto, pasg, sbma, smuggling, subic, suspension
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