Gov't suspends car imports at Subic

The importation of used motor vehicles through the Subic Bay Freeport has been suspended for six months to allow government agencies to audit companies there and determine the extent of vehicle smuggling as well as collect the proper taxes for the government.

The auditing team is composed of representatives from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Finance and Bureau of Customs.

The moratorium on import permits was also extended to two oil companies -- PTT and Tri-Solid -- until the firms paid the correct excise taxes, Subic customs collector Marietta Zamoranos and SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said in separate phone interviews on Friday.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales confirmed the information given by an Inquirer source that the audit of the two oil firms was ordered by 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, who sought anonymity for lack of authority to speak, said the audit ordered by Ms Arroyo did not only seek a review of all oil and used-vehicle imports but an "investigation of all transshipments of cigarettes and liquor at the free port."

Zamoranos said the review of the two oil companies was finished last Friday.

The inventory of the vehicles stored at the free port was "still ongoing," Zamoranos said.

"All car importers are being made to liquidate their import documents. Everybody has to," she said, referring to at least 20 companies.

( www.inquirer.net )