Port Irene in Cagayan Freeport Sta. Ana, Cagayan. A big-time contractor, who has close personal and business ties to the former chief of staff of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and her family, cornered the bulk of P5 billion in state largesse given to the Cagayan Freeport in the last five years. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
NUEVA VIZCAYA, Philippines—A group of car importers based in Port Irene in Cagayan on Saturday protested the statements made by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) that portrayed them as car smugglers.
Jaime Vicente, president of the Automotive Rebuilding Industry of Cagayan Inc. (Aric), described as “malicious” the BOC’s insinuation that they tried to sneak out imported vehicles from the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP) in Santa Ana town.
“What is most lamentable are insinuations that the BOC has confiscated the 38 units for which we have filed for import entry. There appears a clear attempt to give the public the impression that the vehicles were ‘intercepted’ while these were being illegally brought out of the port,” Vicente said in a statement.
Vicente was referring to an announcement made by Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla at a press briefing on Friday, 10 days after BOC agents at its Aparri collection office issued warrants of seizure on 38 assorted vehicles presented for acceptance by Fenix (Ceza) International, one of the licensed used car importers at the CSEZFP.
The 38 units were part of 347 vehicles that comprised the Dec. 14 shipment from Japan, the import documents of which, Vicente said, were completed before Sevilla’s order to stop the processing of all used cars imported through the CSEZFP.
Farthest from the truth
In media reports, the BOC was quoted as claiming to have “thwarted an attempt to illegally take [the vehicles] out” of the Cagayan freeport.
But that is “farthest from the truth,” Vicente said.
“The imported vehicles have not moved even a single inch from where they were originally stored since they arrived at the port. If indeed these were being smuggled out of the free port, then they [at the BOC] should have been able to arrest the drivers, physically seize the vehicles, have their photos taken and present these to the media,” he said.
In good faith
He said Fenix filed the import entry “in good faith, in order to place the vehicles within the jurisdiction of the BOC.”
This allowed the bureau, Vicente said, to choose between two courses of action: To continue abiding by Executive Order 156, which imposes a partial ban on the importation of used vehicles, or follow the ruling of the Supreme Court that affirmed the validity of EO 418, which allows used-car importation with modified tariff rates.
“Since they opted to follow the first option, their natural course of action was to issue a warrant of seizure and detention order. While we disagree with the position they took, we nevertheless respect it,” Vicente said.
But the BOC, Vicente added, should also respect the position that car importers have taken in filing the import entry because the issue remains pending in court.
He was referring to the petition filed by Forerunner Multi-Resources Inc., which questioned the constitutionality of EO 156 which remained pending in the Court of Appeals.
“If the BOC believed that the case had been resolved, why do their lawyers continue to appear in that [Forerunner] case?” Vicente asked.
Sought for comment, Leilani Alameda, acting BOC collector in Aparri, clarified that no confiscations were made, contrary to what was reported in the media.
No interceptions
“To be fair, there was never any movement of the vehicles. We just issued the warrants of seizure and this was accepted by Fenix representatives. There were no interceptions or attempts to sneak the vehicles out of the free port,” she said.
Alameda said they were awaiting instructions from Sevilla on whether to take the vehicles out of the yard in Barangay Casambalangan, Santa Ana, where they are being held following the issuance of warrants of seizure.
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