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MANDAUE CITY, Philippines - Mandaue officials are pushing for the proposal to add more requirements for second-hand dealers to operate in the city after the recent seizure of “hot cars” parked on a vacant lot on A.S. Fortuna Street, Barangay (village) Banilad.
City Administrator Briccio Joseph Boholst agreed with Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna's proposal.
“It was a good suggestion, we can study that,” Boholst said.
He said that it will also not go against the policy of Mayor Jonas Cortes of having a business-friendly atmosphere to attract investors to the city.
He said it will not create a burden to businesses, but will just be an added requirement.
Fortuna earlier suggested that second-hand dealers of vehicles should also be asked to secure a police clearance on top of the business permits before they can operate in the city.
Fortuna said the existing second-hand car businesses should be denied renewal without the police clearance.
The vice mayor also said the City Council is ready to legislate the requirement in order to boost the policy against the selling of stolen vehicles in the city.
A team should also be formed by the Mandaue City Police Office to inspect these establishments before a clearance can be given.
Fortuna pointed out that before businesses are given a mayor’s permit, these should first be inspected by the fire department.
In the meantime, Boholst said the city will construct a taxpayer’s lounge at the vacant quadrangle in front of City Hall near the City Treasurer and Register of Deeds offices.
In an earlier interview, Special Projects Consultant Edmund Sanchez said that the taxpayer’s lounge will be similar to the set-up of the water and power utility establishments where the clients wait in an air-conditioned lounge with a priority number.
At present, the taxpayers and other residents transacting at the City Hall line up at the open quadrangle.
Boholst, on the other hand, said the taxpayer’s lounge is expected to be completed by the end of the year. “We are now (just) waiting for the program of works,” he said.
The project has an approved budget of over a million pesos.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) is encouraging the public to be more vigilant against suspicious-looking vehicles.
Superintendent Juanito Enguerra, deputy chief of CIDG-7, called on the public to help apprehend stolen vehicles by being more vigilant.
Enguerra's appeal came after the recent raids in Mandaue and Talisay cities, where informants called police about the suspicious vehicles.
The tips led to the raids and seizure of six vehicles in Mandaue and two in Talisay, all suspected to be stolen.
Enguerra also explained why more stolen vehicles are being spotted in Central Visayas.
He note that one modus operandi of syndicates was to bring stolen vehicles from Luzon to Mindanao before they are transported to Cebu to shake off police.
Enguerra said the syndicates have taken advantage of loopholes within the government system to ferry the cars to other areas.
He cited the abolition of the anti-carnapping clearance (Ancar) — then a requirement for transporting vehicles through the boats – as one of the loopholes.
Enguerra said that due to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's approval of a memorandum lifting the requirement for Ancar clearance for the shipment of motor vehicles last year, syndicates are now able to fence stolen vehicles in major port areas around the country.
He said the syndicates have also taken advantage of the laxity of checking papers of cargoes of roll-on-roll-off (ro-ro) ferries. These make it easier for the syndicates to transport the vehicles through the ro-ro vessels.
Enguerra said ro-ro vessels are strict when checking the shipment.
Another loophole is the approval of vehicles to enter ports in the country with just the photocopied original receipts and car registrations.
He said the syndicates had mastered forging original receipts of vehicles and the registration.
Another method of operation of syndicates involves car loans in banks.
Enguerra said syndicates will rent a house for three months, then forge the papers of the house to make it look like they own the house and use it as a collateral for a car loan.
The banks would then approve the loan application, Enguerra said.
The syndicate will then buy a car using a car loan as downpayment.
A few months later, the buyers will stop paying the car loan.
The bank officials would then foreclose the house used as collateral in the car loan application only to discover later that they had been duped.
By that time, both the car and the lender had disappeared.
Enguerra called on the banks to coordinate with police when they experience such cases.
A third modus operandi is what happened in the vehicles seized in the three recent raids.
The vehicles’ engine and chassis numbers are defaced and the vehicles are given fake plates. /With a report from Correspondent Justin A.K. Vestil
