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CEBU CITY, Philippines - “Do a Jun Lozada.”
Representative Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City south district) on Monday dared more Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials and employees to come forward and expose a smuggling syndicate in Cebu, after two BOC officials started to cooperate with the investigation of the House committee on good governance.
The two BOC officials met recently with Cuenco and, on condition of anonymity, discussed the modus operandi of car smugglers at the Cebu port and why the BOC has failed to apprehend and prosecute them.
But the BOC officials said the information they have revealed might cost them their lives.
“They seemed reluctant to fully cooperate by testifying in a congressional inquiry for fear of retaliation,” Cuenco observed.
The Cebuano legislator said the House Committee on Good Government is willing to provide protection to whistleblowers.
“We are looking for Jun Lozadas in Cebu to testify. The Committee on Good Government will give security and we will also ask the religious sector to give complementary security. I'm calling on them to be brave, to take a stand,” he said.
Cuenco said that he is trying to persuade the two officials to be willing whistleblowers to finally put an end to the smuggling activities that cause lose billions of pesos annually.
He said he was promised that during the next meeting with the two customs officials, he would be provided with some vital information such as the identities of the key players in the smuggling of hot cars and used motor vehicles.
Cuenco said he will ask the congressional committee to take remedial measures to require the scanning of every container van when the congressional investigation on car smuggling resumes on Wednesday.
Only about 40 of the 2000 container vans that enter the Cebu International Port each week are x-rayed, it was learned.
“There should be no exemptions in scanning incoming container vans so that smuggling of contraband goods will really be seriously addressed,” he said.
The scanning division must also be composed of personnel not only from the Bureau but also from the Commission on Audit, media, car dealers and other anti-corruption organizations, he added.
Cuenco also said that he will recommend to the Committee to increase the penalties on undervalued and misdeclared imported goods and cargoes.
“At present, the penalty only ranges from P500 to P1,000 and they can even go on probation. What we want to do now is increase the penalty to one half of the value of the smuggled items and increase the prison term to six to 12 years,” he said.
The new remedial measures must also define the persons who will be held liable for undervaluation such as the importer, broker, consignees and the Customs officials who approve the shipment.
Meanwhile, Malacañang has ordered the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) to focus its attention to Cebu to combat the continued smuggling of luxury cars.
Secretary Cerge Remonde, head of the Presidential Management Staff, said the PASG, as mandated by an executive order, is tasked to go after smugglers and stop the illegal activity.
Remonde told Cebu Daily News that he directed PASG to submit a report within a month about any progress in their investigation.
He said the Palace is alarmed by the continued reports of smuggled luxury cars through the port of Cebu and even leaders of different foreign business chambers have expressed concern over the loss of billions of pesos in government revenues due to smuggling.
In another development, officials of Hyundai Cebu yesterday said they will write District Collector Ricardo Belmonte to ask that they be allowed to inspect the recently-seized brand new Hyundai Grand Starex and Sta. Fe luxury vehicles valued at more than P1 million each.
Lowell Belarmino, sales manager of Hyundai-Cebu, said that they found it their civic duty to help the BOC in tracing the paper trail of the shipments back to South Korea so that charges can be filed against the responsible individuals.
Belarmino said they will ask the Bureau to allow them to get the vehicles' identification numbers so that they could verify from their mother company in South Korea who could have been responsible in importing the four luxury cars.
“It's a way of citizen's participation - our civic duty to assist government in seeking for the truth and finding those responsible for the shipment,” he said.
Lawyer Lourdes Mangaoang, head of the X-ray Scanning Division Project, in a separate interview, said that they welcome the move from Hyundai as it will help the BOC track down the responsible individuals.
Mangaoang said that she has been trying to coordinate with the Cebu Auto Dealers Association (Cada) for help in curbing the problem on smuggling.
