Cebu customs chief under fire over hot cars
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT -- Ricardo Belmonte, chief collector of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in the Port of Cebu, will have a lot of explaining to do when he appears Wednesday at the House of Representatives’ inquiry into car smuggling in Central Visayas.
“He has to answer a lot of questions,” Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr., chief of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG), said on Sunday.
The 2006 Ferrari that passed through the Cebu port and was said to belong to television host and comedian Willie Revillame was just the tip of the iceberg, it was learned.
“Imagine, Belmonte made the importer [of Revillame’s car] pay only P1 million in duties and taxes when he should have paid P8 million to P10 million,” Villar said.
Records from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) showed that the importer of Revillame’s car was a certain Norbie Casile. His reported address is No. 772 EDSA corner East Avenue in Quezon City.
The import entry covering the Ferrari was filed in the Port of Cebu on Dec. 14, 2006. The vehicle was registered at LTO Cebu City on Dec. 18, 2006.
The car was then sold to Ernesto Enriquez who resold it to Pedro Lanuza, the registered owner. Lanuza then sold it to Revillame, LTO records showed.
A study by the PASG on car smuggling revealed undervaluation has become an “epidemic” in the BOC and “registration witchcraft” has become common practice in LTO offices all over the country.
These irregularities are specifically glaring in the branches of the two agencies in Central Visayas, the study showed.
Belmonte, in a phone interview, said he would clear himself in the probe. “I will be there,” he said.
He denied direct or indirect involvement in car smuggling, saying he and his team have been “trying to control it.”
His office has held at least 40 cars in the “past few weeks,” selling at least 29 through public auctions.
Belmonte said he was not involved in the release of the so-called hot cars.
Registration surge in Toledo
The increase in the registration of vehicles in Toledo City happened during Belmonte’s stint in the BOC in Cebu, LTO reports showed.
Only two vehicles were registered there in 2006. From January to October 2007, however, the figure surged to 3,906.
“Walang ireregister na kotse kung walang lumusot sa Customs (No car would be registered if no vehicle has passed through Customs),” said a Philippine Daily Inquirer source at the Cebu BOC. The source asked not to be named to protect his job.
“Smuggling is glaring and rampant and it is impossible for a collector not to know about it,” the source said.
Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza fired Alex Leyson, LTO regional director, after the PASG exposed the rampant smuggling in Cebu last December.
The registration of vehicles in Cebu is a scheme to avoid the payment of correct taxes and duties, the PASG study said.
The PASG said cars were being shipped into the Cebu port as “replacement parts” while high-end cars, like BMWs and Mercedes Benzes, were declared as “personal effects.”
By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk
“He has to answer a lot of questions,” Undersecretary Antonio Villar Jr., chief of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG), said on Sunday.
The 2006 Ferrari that passed through the Cebu port and was said to belong to television host and comedian Willie Revillame was just the tip of the iceberg, it was learned.
“Imagine, Belmonte made the importer [of Revillame’s car] pay only P1 million in duties and taxes when he should have paid P8 million to P10 million,” Villar said.
Records from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) showed that the importer of Revillame’s car was a certain Norbie Casile. His reported address is No. 772 EDSA corner East Avenue in Quezon City.
The import entry covering the Ferrari was filed in the Port of Cebu on Dec. 14, 2006. The vehicle was registered at LTO Cebu City on Dec. 18, 2006.
The car was then sold to Ernesto Enriquez who resold it to Pedro Lanuza, the registered owner. Lanuza then sold it to Revillame, LTO records showed.
A study by the PASG on car smuggling revealed undervaluation has become an “epidemic” in the BOC and “registration witchcraft” has become common practice in LTO offices all over the country.
These irregularities are specifically glaring in the branches of the two agencies in Central Visayas, the study showed.
Belmonte, in a phone interview, said he would clear himself in the probe. “I will be there,” he said.
He denied direct or indirect involvement in car smuggling, saying he and his team have been “trying to control it.”
His office has held at least 40 cars in the “past few weeks,” selling at least 29 through public auctions.
Belmonte said he was not involved in the release of the so-called hot cars.
Registration surge in Toledo
The increase in the registration of vehicles in Toledo City happened during Belmonte’s stint in the BOC in Cebu, LTO reports showed.
Only two vehicles were registered there in 2006. From January to October 2007, however, the figure surged to 3,906.
“Walang ireregister na kotse kung walang lumusot sa Customs (No car would be registered if no vehicle has passed through Customs),” said a Philippine Daily Inquirer source at the Cebu BOC. The source asked not to be named to protect his job.
“Smuggling is glaring and rampant and it is impossible for a collector not to know about it,” the source said.
Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza fired Alex Leyson, LTO regional director, after the PASG exposed the rampant smuggling in Cebu last December.
The registration of vehicles in Cebu is a scheme to avoid the payment of correct taxes and duties, the PASG study said.
The PASG said cars were being shipped into the Cebu port as “replacement parts” while high-end cars, like BMWs and Mercedes Benzes, were declared as “personal effects.”
By Tonette Orejas - Inquirer Central Luzon Desk
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