PASG, LTO synchronize drive vs smuggled cars

RELATIONS between the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) and Land Transportation Office (LTO) have improved with the take over of Department of Transportation and Communication Assistant Secretary Alberto Suansing last January as chief of the agency.

PASG chief Undersecretary Antonio Villar admitted in a news forum that coordination between his agency and the LTO is going smoothly as compared to the time of former LTO chief Reynaldo Berroya.

“If I will rate LTO’s cooperation with the anti-smuggling efforts of the government under Assec. Suansing, I will give it a grade of 99,” Villar told reporters.

Villar and Berroya in the past engaged in a word war in connection with the alleged registration of some 3,000 imported vehicles even without the certificate of payments.

The PASG chief also questioned the refusal of the LTO to provide the task force with a list of individuals owning imported luxury vehicles to be used in the crackdown of smuggled motor vehicles.

Berroya for his part argued that LTO does not have the mandate and competency to determine if an imported motor vehicle is undervalued or not, adding it is the sole responsibility of the Bureau of Customs.

“With Suansing now at the LTO we could expect more improvement on the operation against smuggled imported vehicles,” he added.

Villar said a memorandum of agreement is scheduled to be signed by PASG and LTO that will enable PASG to go after smuggled vehicles that have already been registered at the LTO in the past.

This should serve as warning to all individuals owning undervalued imported vehicles that they can still be apprehended by PASG unless they settle their tax obligations, he added. By: Jess V. Antiporda - Journal online