179 in antismuggling body sacked
Relief came as P45M in cell phones enter Subic
By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The appointee of President Macapagal-Arroyo to the Task Force Subic on Thursday ordered the relief of 179 retired military officers and civilians from that antismuggling body.
The move was meant to put in fresh personnel in the government’s campaign to curb smuggling and put more taxes into the public coffers, according to Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr., chief of both the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group and TF Subic.
“I’m not retaining anybody,” he said.
The relief of the officers came as the PASG summoned officials of the customs bureau and a freight forwarding company to an investigation of the attempted smuggling of P45 million in cellular phones through Subic.
Ms Arroyo appointed Villar in December to head the TF Subic, replacing retired Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim, who died of a lingering illness on Nov. 30 last year.
“I’m not saying they were eaten up by the system. I want fresh faces,” Villar said.
He has recruited 50 personnel to the task force, and plans to add 30 more from the ranks of investigators, prosecutors and informants. “That’s enough for me. Anyway, the Bureau of Customs and [the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority] have their own set of police personnel,” he said.
“I don’t want intrigues. We have a common purpose: To help the President,” he added.
Later in the press conference, Villar vowed to identify the smugglers in the freeport.
About 3,000 cars are smuggled yearly into the freeport, according to a former smuggler interviewed by the Inquirer.
Aside from cars, oil, cigarettes, liquor, used clothes and computers are smuggled, Villar said.
Under Calimlim, the task force worked on a P30-million budget yearly. Villar said he would try to reduce operation costs.
The new personnel will work in three batches to keep a 24-hour guard on the freeport’s seven gates, airport and seaport, he said.
SBMA Chair Feliciano Salonga shared Villar’s thrust, saying this would clear the agency of the “stigma” from smuggling. “It is our doctrine to end smuggling in this freeport,” he said.
SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said the freeport had been used as “springboard” for smuggling although technically, there was none because it was not a Bureau of Customs territory on account of its liberal or duty and tax free policy as incentives for locators. Importations by non-locators are inspected and taxed by the BoC.
Subic customs collector Marietta Zamoranos said she had issued warrants of seizure and detention for at least 254 cars with blue license plates. Those are issued for cars used by business locators here.
The SBMA has lifted duties and taxes on those cars as incentives to locators. A number of them have already closed shop but continue to use the cars.
“Since they have no business here anymore, they must be paying duties and taxes now to the government,” Zamoranos said.
Errol Albano, BoC deputy collector for Subic, said the mobile phones, packed in 15 large cartons, were brought in as “communications equipment” with a declared value of P24,000. These arrived on a FedEx plane at the Subic Bay International Airport at 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 24.
Albano said he ordered FedEx to suspend the release of the cargo until the consignee, a certain Noel Moog of Pilar, Bataan, could show an importation permit from the National Telecommunications Commission.
Villar said the importation of mobile phones should be covered by NTC permits. The stickers on each unit are proof of proper importation, he said.
But Benjamin Kho, TF Subic deputy head, said Sam Bautista, manager of the clearance operations of Airfreight 21 Inc., a FedEx licensee, authorized the reshipment of the cargo to Hong Kong on Jan. 27.
By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT – The appointee of President Macapagal-Arroyo to the Task Force Subic on Thursday ordered the relief of 179 retired military officers and civilians from that antismuggling body.
The move was meant to put in fresh personnel in the government’s campaign to curb smuggling and put more taxes into the public coffers, according to Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr., chief of both the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group and TF Subic.
“I’m not retaining anybody,” he said.
The relief of the officers came as the PASG summoned officials of the customs bureau and a freight forwarding company to an investigation of the attempted smuggling of P45 million in cellular phones through Subic.
Ms Arroyo appointed Villar in December to head the TF Subic, replacing retired Lt. Gen. Jose Calimlim, who died of a lingering illness on Nov. 30 last year.
“I’m not saying they were eaten up by the system. I want fresh faces,” Villar said.
He has recruited 50 personnel to the task force, and plans to add 30 more from the ranks of investigators, prosecutors and informants. “That’s enough for me. Anyway, the Bureau of Customs and [the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority] have their own set of police personnel,” he said.
“I don’t want intrigues. We have a common purpose: To help the President,” he added.
Later in the press conference, Villar vowed to identify the smugglers in the freeport.
About 3,000 cars are smuggled yearly into the freeport, according to a former smuggler interviewed by the Inquirer.
Aside from cars, oil, cigarettes, liquor, used clothes and computers are smuggled, Villar said.
Under Calimlim, the task force worked on a P30-million budget yearly. Villar said he would try to reduce operation costs.
The new personnel will work in three batches to keep a 24-hour guard on the freeport’s seven gates, airport and seaport, he said.
SBMA Chair Feliciano Salonga shared Villar’s thrust, saying this would clear the agency of the “stigma” from smuggling. “It is our doctrine to end smuggling in this freeport,” he said.
SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said the freeport had been used as “springboard” for smuggling although technically, there was none because it was not a Bureau of Customs territory on account of its liberal or duty and tax free policy as incentives for locators. Importations by non-locators are inspected and taxed by the BoC.
Subic customs collector Marietta Zamoranos said she had issued warrants of seizure and detention for at least 254 cars with blue license plates. Those are issued for cars used by business locators here.
The SBMA has lifted duties and taxes on those cars as incentives to locators. A number of them have already closed shop but continue to use the cars.
“Since they have no business here anymore, they must be paying duties and taxes now to the government,” Zamoranos said.
Errol Albano, BoC deputy collector for Subic, said the mobile phones, packed in 15 large cartons, were brought in as “communications equipment” with a declared value of P24,000. These arrived on a FedEx plane at the Subic Bay International Airport at 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 24.
Albano said he ordered FedEx to suspend the release of the cargo until the consignee, a certain Noel Moog of Pilar, Bataan, could show an importation permit from the National Telecommunications Commission.
Villar said the importation of mobile phones should be covered by NTC permits. The stickers on each unit are proof of proper importation, he said.
But Benjamin Kho, TF Subic deputy head, said Sam Bautista, manager of the clearance operations of Airfreight 21 Inc., a FedEx licensee, authorized the reshipment of the cargo to Hong Kong on Jan. 27.
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