Government suspends import of cars, oil into Subic
The importation of used motor vehicles into the Subic Bay Freeport has been suspended for six months until April 2008 as government agencies audit companies to determine the actual extent of smuggling there and recover proper taxes for the government.
The auditing team is composed of representatives from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Department of Finance (DOF).
The moratorium in the SBMA's issuance of import permits was also applied on two oil companies -- the PTT and Tri-Solid -- until after these paid the correct excise taxes, Subic Customs Collector Marietta Zamoranos and SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said in separate phone interviews Friday.
They differed on the date of the start of the audit period, with Zamoranos reckoning that to be on October 24 and Arreza, on October 23.
It was Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales who confirmed information by a Philippine Daily Inquirer source that the post-entry audit on the two oil firms was done on order of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
"The audit is one of the action plans we are doing for revenue generation. It is an alternative, remedial measure to get the assigned collection target. The President is aware of this and she said, 'Good. Do it,'" Morales said in a telephone interview.
The Inquirer source said the audit ordered by Arroyo did not only seek a review of all documents of importers of oil and second-hand vehicles. She also asked for an "investigation of all transshipment of cigarette and liquor at the freeport."
These efforts indicated that she has veered away from the policy of destroying smuggled items, which government displayed by smashing 18 luxury cars here in August.
While that source reported that the audit had been completed, Zamoranos said only the review for two oil companies had been finished as of Friday.
Based on the exit conference between the audit team and the PTT, she said the company had paid P112 million and was due to pay the balance of its P470 million liability on Friday.
Initial audit findings in July placed PTT's total preliminary assessment at P4.236 billion, including an 800-percent penalty on kerosene excise deficiency.
Tri-Solid, which had a total unaccounted volume of 127,477,150 liters of gasoline and diesel from October 2006 to June 2007, had paid less than P80 million as it awaited its turn for the exit conference.
It has been required to pay P400 million until December 6, Arreza said.
The inventory on the actual number of vehicles warehoused at the freeport was "still ongoing for us to check on incidents of smuggling," Zamoranos said.
"All car importers are being made to liquidate their import documents. Everybody has to," she said, referring to at least 20 companies.
Several BOC personnel were charged in October with undervaluing the taxes on cars imported by Hidemitsu, a Subic-based firm.
The audit of all admission and liquidation reports on imported vehicles covers the period from October 2005 to October 2007, Arreza said.
It was in October 2005 that former SBMA Chair Francisco Licuanan III lifted the moratorium on the issuance of import permits.
Arreza said no restriction has been imposed on the importation of brand new cars. However, reports obtained by the Inquirer showed that these have been the favored items of locators.
Luxury cars imported through the Subic Bay Freeport increased from nine units in the first quarter of 2006 to 41 units in the second quarter, 107 in the third quarter and 123 in the last quarter. The increase did not end in 2007 as 89 units entered in February this year.
Arreza said second-hand vehicles that are already in transit to the freeport during the audit period will be admitted.
Companies covered by the audit have not taken legal action yet to stop the scrutiny of their books, it was learned.
"Once they get the clearance, they can resume operations," Arreza said.
The BOC has begun collecting excise taxes on cigarette and liquor although the Supreme Court has not ruled on the merits of the appeal to exempt Subic-based importers.
Arreza said the audit was not related to the final ruling that the Supreme Court had issued on Executive Order 156.
The high court on February 26 ruled that "used motor vehicles that come into the Philippine territory via the secured fenced-in former Subic Naval Base area may be stored, used or traded therein or exported out of the Philippine territory, but they cannot be imported into the Philippine territory outside of the secured fenced-in former Subic Naval Base area."
The Motor Vehicles Industry Association in Subic filed a motion for reconsideration to allow its members to sell the used vehicles in the country.
By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer Central Luzon DeskThe auditing team is composed of representatives from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Department of Finance (DOF).
The moratorium in the SBMA's issuance of import permits was also applied on two oil companies -- the PTT and Tri-Solid -- until after these paid the correct excise taxes, Subic Customs Collector Marietta Zamoranos and SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said in separate phone interviews Friday.
They differed on the date of the start of the audit period, with Zamoranos reckoning that to be on October 24 and Arreza, on October 23.
It was Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales who confirmed information by a Philippine Daily Inquirer source that the post-entry audit on the two oil firms was done on order of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
"The audit is one of the action plans we are doing for revenue generation. It is an alternative, remedial measure to get the assigned collection target. The President is aware of this and she said, 'Good. Do it,'" Morales said in a telephone interview.
The Inquirer source said the audit ordered by Arroyo did not only seek a review of all documents of importers of oil and second-hand vehicles. She also asked for an "investigation of all transshipment of cigarette and liquor at the freeport."
These efforts indicated that she has veered away from the policy of destroying smuggled items, which government displayed by smashing 18 luxury cars here in August.
While that source reported that the audit had been completed, Zamoranos said only the review for two oil companies had been finished as of Friday.
Based on the exit conference between the audit team and the PTT, she said the company had paid P112 million and was due to pay the balance of its P470 million liability on Friday.
Initial audit findings in July placed PTT's total preliminary assessment at P4.236 billion, including an 800-percent penalty on kerosene excise deficiency.
Tri-Solid, which had a total unaccounted volume of 127,477,150 liters of gasoline and diesel from October 2006 to June 2007, had paid less than P80 million as it awaited its turn for the exit conference.
It has been required to pay P400 million until December 6, Arreza said.
The inventory on the actual number of vehicles warehoused at the freeport was "still ongoing for us to check on incidents of smuggling," Zamoranos said.
"All car importers are being made to liquidate their import documents. Everybody has to," she said, referring to at least 20 companies.
Several BOC personnel were charged in October with undervaluing the taxes on cars imported by Hidemitsu, a Subic-based firm.
The audit of all admission and liquidation reports on imported vehicles covers the period from October 2005 to October 2007, Arreza said.
It was in October 2005 that former SBMA Chair Francisco Licuanan III lifted the moratorium on the issuance of import permits.
Arreza said no restriction has been imposed on the importation of brand new cars. However, reports obtained by the Inquirer showed that these have been the favored items of locators.
Luxury cars imported through the Subic Bay Freeport increased from nine units in the first quarter of 2006 to 41 units in the second quarter, 107 in the third quarter and 123 in the last quarter. The increase did not end in 2007 as 89 units entered in February this year.
Arreza said second-hand vehicles that are already in transit to the freeport during the audit period will be admitted.
Companies covered by the audit have not taken legal action yet to stop the scrutiny of their books, it was learned.
"Once they get the clearance, they can resume operations," Arreza said.
The BOC has begun collecting excise taxes on cigarette and liquor although the Supreme Court has not ruled on the merits of the appeal to exempt Subic-based importers.
Arreza said the audit was not related to the final ruling that the Supreme Court had issued on Executive Order 156.
The high court on February 26 ruled that "used motor vehicles that come into the Philippine territory via the secured fenced-in former Subic Naval Base area may be stored, used or traded therein or exported out of the Philippine territory, but they cannot be imported into the Philippine territory outside of the secured fenced-in former Subic Naval Base area."
The Motor Vehicles Industry Association in Subic filed a motion for reconsideration to allow its members to sell the used vehicles in the country.
Labels: customs, oil, smuggling, subic, used vehicle
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