Owners of Subic blue plates warned

The number of unaccounted Subic blue plate cars that are subject to crackdown by Bureau of Customs (BoC) has climbed to 203 as the bureau warned its owners about their seizure and forfeiture.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said BoC tapped the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the PNP Highway Patrol Group for the expeditious location and apprehension of the motor vehicles through the issuance of alarm notices.

“There is a need to locate these motor vehicles for the collection of the proper duties and taxes and for the prosecution of customs personnel and smugglers involved in the illegal entry of these motor,” Morales said.

He said both of the agencies have been asked by Customs to be held in abeyance the registration of the SBMA blue plate vehicles following reports that some of them have been sold to third parties and converted into regular plates.

Among these vehicles are various models of 37 Mercedes Benz, 26 BMW, eight units of Porsche, three Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo units, and one Ferrari, among others.

These luxury cars are tax-exempted vehicles (TEVs) that enter the Port of Subic and can only be used around Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA). They can be brought out of SBMA territory for official business but must be returned to the zone after 15 days.

BoC identified their consignees as Microvan Inc., Subic Acropolis, Portnet Pet Corp., One World Multi Ends, Jear Trading, Janitzek International Trading, Bambusa, Crown Trading, 4D Trading, California Waste, HOF International Inc., and Mexxon International Trading. By RAYMUND F. ANTONIO - Manila Bulletin

Customs execs feud over Subic

Two Customs officials assigned to the Port of Subic are locked in a dispute over control of the issuance of gate passes for those bringing imported goods in or out of the free port.

The dispute erupted after Customs collector Marietta Zamoranos issued a special order removing from deputy collector Errol Albano the function of signing gate passes and issuing permits for temporary transfer of goods from the Subic free port.

Zamoranos designated a Customs personnel, Belma Limbaga, to perform the task that used to be Albano’s.

But Albano refused to heed Zamoranos’ order and sought the opinion of the Customs legal service department which ruled in his favor.

Invoking the legal department’s opinion, Albano issued a memorandum for Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales to nullify Zamoranos’ order, which the deputy collector said violated Executive Order 127.

On May 22, Morales issued an endorsement letter ordering Zamoranos to strictly comply with the mandate of Executive Order 127 expressly vesting upon Albano, as the deputy collector for operations, the supervision over the release of cargos within the Subic Customs zone.

A week later, Morales reiterated his order for Zamoranos to comply and return to Albano the authority to issue gate passes. Morales also asked Zamoranos to submit her position paper on the issue.

But Zamoranos countered with a memorandum for Morales, stating that she “may not comply with the mandate of EO 127 as directed by the commissioner.”

But she explained that she was not disregarding the order of the commissioner and that she had valid and legal reasons not to comply with Morales’ directive.

The principal issue that was resolved by the legal service is the validity of Subic special order, which “does not automatically mean that the deputy collector of operations is the proper person to exercise the various functions,” Zamoranos said.

Zamoranos cited Administrative Order 296 issued in October 1996 which created the Customs clearance area and vested it with the function to issue gate passes inside the freeport zone.

Zamoranos said she would abide by the legal services department’s opinion as endorsed by Morales “but with respect only to the invalidity of the Subic special order pending submission and eventual resolution of our position paper to defend such orders.”

Zamoranos justified her action on Albano, saying that as a district collector, she is the executive officer of the port and has command responsibility over the effective discharge of the bureau’s mission in his jurisdiction such as collection of rightful duties and taxes, prevention of smuggling, and trade facilitation and promotion of a healthy business climate.

Zamoranos, in her memorandum for Morales, said that she would assume the role of “exclusive signatory” of all gate-passes and permit for temporary transfer of imported goods at the Subic free port.

On July 2, Zamoranos released another memorandum as “supplemental” to her earlier memo for the commissioner stating that AO 296 must prevail over EO 127.

“AO 296 is a latter issuance than EO 127,” Zamoranos said.

She further explained that EO 127 is a general law reorganizing the Finance Department and defining its duties and functions including the Bureau of Customs while AO 296 is a special issuance created specifically to meet the needs and requirements of the various economic and free port zones.

Last Friday, Albano positioned himself inside the gate pass issuance office but brokers opted to secure cargo passes directly from the office of Zamoranos who posted a memorandum directing all importers and exporters to have their gate passes processed in her office. By Cecille Garcia - Journal online

Official clears Teves in smuggling case

The Department of Finance said it has not made any endorsement for the illegal release of imported generation sets, refuting the allegations of a suspended Finance employee who filed a smuggling case against Secretary Margarito B. Teves Jr. recently.

Finance Undersecretary Gaudencio Mendoza said Teves never signed an endorsement that will release of the imported generator sets from Singapore-based Aggreko Pte Ltd. by the NPC Alliance Corp. which arrived at the Subic Free Port after it was seized by the Bureau of Customs.

“The generators were never released,” Mendoza told The Manila Times.

Gaudencio said Finance ordered the Customs to proceed with the seizure and disregard the earlier endorsement made by Atty. Eleazar Cesista, head of the department’s Revenue Express Lane.

Therefore, Finance did not provide any tax-free importation permit to a large shipment of generator sets that allegedly resulted in foregone government revenues totaling P373 million, he said.

Gaudencio said the Department of Justice has rejected the com­plaint of Ruben Anthony Frogoso, former intelligence officer of Finance’s central management information office, that’s why his complaint was filed in the Manila Prosecutors Office.

“The DOJ told us that they rejected the complaint, [and] that’s why it was filed with city prosecutor of Manila,” Mendoza said.

Frogoso sued Teves and other ranking Finance officials for allegedly granting a tax-free importation permit to a large shipment of generator sets.

“The secretary did not sign anything at all [for generation sets’ release], and I did not sign anything at all,” Mendoza said.

The generator sets, according to Frogoso, were allegedly shipped on April 10, 2007.

Mendoza said Frogoso has no credibility to file the complaint.

Frogoso has a Revenue Integrity Protection Service case pending with the Office of Ombudsman that involves dishonesty and grave misconduct. He was suspended six months from July 2007 to January 11, 2008. Prior to this, he had administrative cases filed against him because of frequent, unauthorized absences from work.

“He has no performance to speak off. The guy is floating since then,” Mendoza said.

“If we get the copy of the complaint, we’ll answer. If there’s basis for us to respond a counteraffidavit then we will file it,” Mendoza said. By Maricel Burgonio, Manila Times Reporter

DoF wants grant of investment incentives streamlined

The study authored by University of the Philippines economics professor Renato Reside said 95 percent of the incentives given by the Board of Investments, 10 percent of those given by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, 17.5 percent of those given by the Subic Bay Metropolitan authority and 36.3 percent of those given by the Clark Special Economic Zone were “redundant.”

The Department of Finance (DoF) has again called on Congress to streamline the grant of financial incentives for investments, saying the government loses billions of pesos annually by giving out of “redundant” perks.

“We underscore that it is also because of wasteful resources from redundant tax incentives that government has been financially ill-equipped to address poor infrastructure and a substandard educational system,” the DoF said in a position paper submitted to Congress.

It cited a study showing that the government lost P62.5 billion in potential revenues in 2004 by granting incentives that were “redundant” -- the investors would have proceeded with their investments even without the incentives.

The study authored by University of the Philippines economics professor Renato Reside said 95 percent of the incentives given by the Board of Investments, 10 percent of those given by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, 17.5 percent of those given by the Subic Bay Metropolitan authority and 36.3 percent of those given by the Clark Special Economic Zone were “redundant.”

The study also said incentives were not a major factor for deciding to invest in the Philippines. It said the major factors were access to customers, political stability, ease of doing business, reliable infrastructure, labor cost, and availability of skilled labor.

The DoF proposed that laws granting investment incentives be consolidated into one, and that incentives be given only to priority exporters and businesses located in the poorest provinces. Michelle V. Remo; with INQUIRER.net

6 Customs execs charged in car smuggling

Subic Bay Freeport - brand new luxury cars carry a price tag of less than P100,000. But government investigators are not buying it.

The Department of Finance (DoF) on Thursday filed with the Office of the Ombudsman graft charges against six Bureau of Customs (BoC) personnel in connection with the smuggling of 14 luxury vehicles that were appraised at only about P1 million six months ago.

Charged were Josephine Dullas, acting chief of the certificate of payment unit of the BoC-Subic, customs examiners Orlando Ronquillo, Rustico Mallari and Enrico Cruz, and principal appraisers Ebrahim Pangkatan and Rodolfo Casis.

DoF lawyer Romeo Tomas Jr. said five higher officials of the BoC were still being investigated.

The six BoC employees were accused of conspiring with one another to release the luxury vehicles -- estimated to be worth P37 million -- without proper payment of tax obligations.

The filing of charges came a month after the demolition of 18 smuggled cars at the Clark Freeport Zone on orders of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

According to the 18-page complaint, 16 high-end luxury cars were smuggled out of the holding area of the Hidemitsu Trading Corp. in Subic without payment of proper taxes and duties.

Fourteen of the cars were found in several showrooms or private residences outside the SBMA after the Task Force Anti-Smuggling- Special Operations Group conducted surveillance operations.

Two of the cars were not shipped out of the free port and were eventually forfeited in favor of the government.

The complaint also showed that three brand new Audi 8Ls were priced at only $2,100 each (or roughly P96,600 each); a Chevrolet Corvette at $1,600 (P73,600) and three BMW 750Li at $1,600 each (P72,500 each).

But the actual “blue book value” of the cars were placed at $72,090 (P3.2 million); $51,535 (P2.34 million) and $78,100 (P3.53 million), respectively.

These, and seven other luxury cars, including Acuras, Infinity SUVs and Nissan Armadas, were allegedly estimated by the respondents to be worth P1 million, showing an undervaluation of almost P37 million, or 90 percent of their actual value, read the complaint.

The accused also allegedly declared the cars “used” or “second-hand vehicles” contrary to their real condition.

By Jocelyn Uy - Inquirer