P400 M lost in anomalous Cebu vehicle registration--prober
Based on the annual records of the DOTC statistics section in 2006, Region 7 ranked first in vehicle registration outside the National Capital Region. Central Visayas' newly registered vehicles reached 18,431, surpassing even Subic, which only had 15,569 new registrations. NCR has 32,500 registered new vehicles.
By Jolene Bulambot - Inquirer Visayas Bureau
CEBU CITY, Philippines -- The government appears to have lost around P400 million in taxes due to under-declared vehicles, said an investigator who looked into alleged anomalous car registrations in Cebu.
Lawyer Teofilo Guadiz III of the Department of Transportation and Communication’s investigation, security and law enforcement staff, said the investigation team uncovered several anomalies in car registration in the Land Transportation Office (LTO) as well as a high probability of technical smuggling of cars in Cebu.
"I can't give my conclusions yet because we still have to collate everything. There would be officials who will be held accountable for this but we can't name names yet. Somebody has to answer for this," Guadiz said.
Guadiz said it could even include higher LTO officials "when it comes to liability and accountability."
He said he would be submitting his report to Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza on Monday.
Mendoza had sent the investigation team to look into allegations of questionable vehicle registrations in Cebu.
Mendoza also relieved LTO regional director Alex Leyson because of the allegations.
Guadiz said the DOTC investigation team completed on Friday its investigation of five LTO offices in Cebu alleged to have anomalous car registrations.
He earlier disclosed that the LTO in Toledo City had an abnormal number of registrations in 2007, which reached 3,906 up from only two in 2006.
Guadiz said the investigators also found anomalies in LTO offices in Lapu-Lapu and Cebu cities.
In Lapu-Lapu City, Guadiz said high-end vehicles such as BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Ferrari and Pajero were registered with affidavits of being rebuilt.
"We found some documents that (showed) some high-end vehicles such as BMWs have separate Customs payment for chassis and another for the engine but that is highly improbable because we don't have the technology yet," he said.
Guadiz said that the technical smuggling could be done with the issuance of separate payments for chassis and for engine in the case of luxury vehicles.
An affidavit to rebuild executed by a mechanic is then attached to the application and the LTO office in Cebu would issue a certificate of stock report to register the unit as a whole, he said.
With the certificate of stock report, the LTO office in Cebu would issue a certificate of registration and official receipt, he said.
Guadiz also said documents in Toledo City were missing but they were able to get the plate numbers of the sports utility vehicles that were registered in Toledo City, which they would verify in the LTO central office.
Based on the annual records of the DOTC statistics section in 2006, Region 7 ranked first in vehicle registration outside the National Capital Region. Central Visayas' newly registered vehicles reached 18,431, surpassing even Subic, which only had 15,569 new registrations. NCR has 32,500 registered new vehicles, he said.
Meanwhile, Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said that they would investigate the allegations raised by the DOTC investigation team on the alleged under-declaration and under-valuation of some imported luxury cars registered in Cebu.
Morales said that Customs based the valuation of an imported vehicle on the book value and that only Customs could do the computation of duties and taxes.
He said the LTO must abide by the memorandum of agreement it recently signed with Customs that the LTO would not register vehicles unless it has been first referred to Customs.
Cebu Customs Collector Ricardo Belmonte said he was surprised by the revelation of the DOTC investigators because only Customs could determine if an assessment was undervalued.
Belmonte, however, refused to comment further until he could see the DOTC investigation report so that his office could make verifications.
By Jolene Bulambot - Inquirer Visayas Bureau
CEBU CITY, Philippines -- The government appears to have lost around P400 million in taxes due to under-declared vehicles, said an investigator who looked into alleged anomalous car registrations in Cebu.
Lawyer Teofilo Guadiz III of the Department of Transportation and Communication’s investigation, security and law enforcement staff, said the investigation team uncovered several anomalies in car registration in the Land Transportation Office (LTO) as well as a high probability of technical smuggling of cars in Cebu.
"I can't give my conclusions yet because we still have to collate everything. There would be officials who will be held accountable for this but we can't name names yet. Somebody has to answer for this," Guadiz said.
Guadiz said it could even include higher LTO officials "when it comes to liability and accountability."
He said he would be submitting his report to Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza on Monday.
Mendoza had sent the investigation team to look into allegations of questionable vehicle registrations in Cebu.
Mendoza also relieved LTO regional director Alex Leyson because of the allegations.
Guadiz said the DOTC investigation team completed on Friday its investigation of five LTO offices in Cebu alleged to have anomalous car registrations.
He earlier disclosed that the LTO in Toledo City had an abnormal number of registrations in 2007, which reached 3,906 up from only two in 2006.
Guadiz said the investigators also found anomalies in LTO offices in Lapu-Lapu and Cebu cities.
In Lapu-Lapu City, Guadiz said high-end vehicles such as BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Ferrari and Pajero were registered with affidavits of being rebuilt.
"We found some documents that (showed) some high-end vehicles such as BMWs have separate Customs payment for chassis and another for the engine but that is highly improbable because we don't have the technology yet," he said.
Guadiz said that the technical smuggling could be done with the issuance of separate payments for chassis and for engine in the case of luxury vehicles.
An affidavit to rebuild executed by a mechanic is then attached to the application and the LTO office in Cebu would issue a certificate of stock report to register the unit as a whole, he said.
With the certificate of stock report, the LTO office in Cebu would issue a certificate of registration and official receipt, he said.
Guadiz also said documents in Toledo City were missing but they were able to get the plate numbers of the sports utility vehicles that were registered in Toledo City, which they would verify in the LTO central office.
Based on the annual records of the DOTC statistics section in 2006, Region 7 ranked first in vehicle registration outside the National Capital Region. Central Visayas' newly registered vehicles reached 18,431, surpassing even Subic, which only had 15,569 new registrations. NCR has 32,500 registered new vehicles, he said.
Meanwhile, Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said that they would investigate the allegations raised by the DOTC investigation team on the alleged under-declaration and under-valuation of some imported luxury cars registered in Cebu.
Morales said that Customs based the valuation of an imported vehicle on the book value and that only Customs could do the computation of duties and taxes.
He said the LTO must abide by the memorandum of agreement it recently signed with Customs that the LTO would not register vehicles unless it has been first referred to Customs.
Cebu Customs Collector Ricardo Belmonte said he was surprised by the revelation of the DOTC investigators because only Customs could determine if an assessment was undervalued.
Belmonte, however, refused to comment further until he could see the DOTC investigation report so that his office could make verifications.
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