Villar - Magsaysay war on smuggling worsens
Solons warn PASG head of contempt
- - while Villar threatens to resign
Congressmen issued a subpoena to the head of an antismuggling task force that had seized a car belonging to a legislator as a House investigation yielded information linking Reynaldo Berroya, assistant transportation and communications secretary and former Land Transportation Office head, to questionable registrations of smuggled vehicles.
The House committee on good government voted unanimously to force the appearance of Undersecretary Antonio Villar, head of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG), who had failed to attend committee hearings four times.
Members of the committee, including Albay Rep. Al Francis Bichara, threatened to cite Villar in contempt and have him arrested should he fail to attend the next hearing.
Bichara owns a car that the PASG seized in a Makati auto shop recently on suspicion this was smuggled.
But just as the committee expressed anger at Villar’s absence, Wednesday’s hearing led to information linking Berroya to the issuance of license plates from the LTO central office in Quezon City to imported high-end vehicles that entered the country through Cebu.
Berroya’s alleged involvement was mentioned in an LTO report submitted to the committee. While the report cleared Berroya of wrongdoing, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said he should still be investigated.
“My theory is that the smuggling of cars in Cebu is related to top officials in Metro Manila,” Casiño said.
According to Assistant Secretary Alberto Suansing, current LTO chief, many of the 6,000 imported vehicles that were registered in Toledo City had deficient certificates of payments of customs duties.
Suansing said a common violation was customs failing to transmit directly to the LTO the certificates of duty payments for these vehicles.
He said some registration papers were covered with fake certificates of payment and, in some cases, the certificates were “either missing or apparently spurious.”
Casiño brought to the committee’s attention the 40 imported high-end vehicles that were registered in Cebu but were given license plates from Metro Manila.
The LTO report quoted Honorio Quiambao, head of the LTO Diliman District Office, as pointing to Berroya as the one who approved the issuance of Metro Manila license plates to cars registered in Cebu.
Casiño also quoted Quiambao as saying liaison officers of car importers were the ones following up the release of Metro Manila plates for Cebu-registered cars.
The LTO report said the issuance of Metro Manila plates to Cebu-registered vehicles could be one way of evading traffic enforcers who had the “propensity to flag down motor vehicles with plate numbers from Central Visayas.”
All that car owners from Cebu had to do, the report said, was to request the LTO central office for license plates from Metro Manila.
The report also quoted Quiambao as saying that on some of the requests, Berroya had written “FA/A,” or “for appropriate action.” It quoted Quiambao as saying it meant the request was “as good as approved.” By Norman Bordadora - Philippine Daily Inquirer
The House committee on good government voted unanimously to force the appearance of Undersecretary Antonio Villar, head of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG), who had failed to attend committee hearings four times.
Members of the committee, including Albay Rep. Al Francis Bichara, threatened to cite Villar in contempt and have him arrested should he fail to attend the next hearing.
Bichara owns a car that the PASG seized in a Makati auto shop recently on suspicion this was smuggled.
But just as the committee expressed anger at Villar’s absence, Wednesday’s hearing led to information linking Berroya to the issuance of license plates from the LTO central office in Quezon City to imported high-end vehicles that entered the country through Cebu.
Berroya’s alleged involvement was mentioned in an LTO report submitted to the committee. While the report cleared Berroya of wrongdoing, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said he should still be investigated.
“My theory is that the smuggling of cars in Cebu is related to top officials in Metro Manila,” Casiño said.
According to Assistant Secretary Alberto Suansing, current LTO chief, many of the 6,000 imported vehicles that were registered in Toledo City had deficient certificates of payments of customs duties.
Suansing said a common violation was customs failing to transmit directly to the LTO the certificates of duty payments for these vehicles.
He said some registration papers were covered with fake certificates of payment and, in some cases, the certificates were “either missing or apparently spurious.”
Casiño brought to the committee’s attention the 40 imported high-end vehicles that were registered in Cebu but were given license plates from Metro Manila.
The LTO report quoted Honorio Quiambao, head of the LTO Diliman District Office, as pointing to Berroya as the one who approved the issuance of Metro Manila license plates to cars registered in Cebu.
Casiño also quoted Quiambao as saying liaison officers of car importers were the ones following up the release of Metro Manila plates for Cebu-registered cars.
The LTO report said the issuance of Metro Manila plates to Cebu-registered vehicles could be one way of evading traffic enforcers who had the “propensity to flag down motor vehicles with plate numbers from Central Visayas.”
All that car owners from Cebu had to do, the report said, was to request the LTO central office for license plates from Metro Manila.
The report also quoted Quiambao as saying that on some of the requests, Berroya had written “FA/A,” or “for appropriate action.” It quoted Quiambao as saying it meant the request was “as good as approved.” By Norman Bordadora - Philippine Daily Inquirer
= = =
In TV interview over Channel 7 and Dzbb this morning, Villar said he will be resigning from his post due to the pressure from the Magsaysays who he claims are protectors of smugglers in Subic. Cong Magsaysay however said that Villar have a lot of explaining to do in the Philippine Congress and that he should attend hearings.
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
11:53 AM
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