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Friends of Finance Secretary Margarito “Gary” Teves are trying to push his confirmation before the Commission on Appointments (CA) by highlighting his sterling credentials: a Ph.D. in Economics from Oxford University plus experience as former congressman, Land Bank chairman, and executive of the Ayala Foundation.
Admirers of the low-key Cabinet official are concerned because the Commission on Appointments bypassed his appointment, not just once but twice. Still, Malacañang is bent on keeping Teves along with other appointees who didn’t make the CA grade in previous hearings.
President Arroyo’s determination, some call it obduracy, to keep her appointees despite the negative action of the CA has prompted an opposition senator to propose that if the CA calls a third strike on an appointee, he is automatically out. Of course, administration allies in Congress will see to it that the initiative, which is reportedly aimed to tame the Executive, will not prosper. In other words, Secretary Teves and others like him are in no danger of losing their jobs due to any CA action.
As a taxpayer, my own take on the issues is this: Teves may have the credentials required of the job of a Cabinet secretary but another applicant can top it. The question is: Is he really up to the demanding job of Finance chief?
This is important because of the widespread car smuggling happening in Cebu and other international ports in the country. Except for an announcement that the Department of Finance (DOF) is coming up with its own investigation, Teves appears unperturbed on an issue that strikes at the very heart of the department’s duty and obligation.
To recall, the House committee on local government initiated a probe on car smuggling after Cebuano car dealers complained about the proliferation of smuggled brand new luxury cars and second-hand vehicles. The baneful situation has hurt the business of car dealers nationwide.
A check with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) by the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) validated this claim. Based on PASG’s random investigation, some 3,000 fake certificates of payments were recovered in Cebu, as well as other international ports in Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Davao and Subic. The discovery points to the local Bureau of Customs (BOC) in the area as having issued undervalued or outright fake Certificates of Payment of luxury cars. These questionable documents found their way to the Land Transportation Office and became the basis for the issuance of certificates of registration.
Based on PASG’s intelligence reports, the national government has incurred revenue losses of P1.4 billion as a result of the recent smuggling. What is disturbing is that the scandal was unearthed, not because of concerns aired by DOF or Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) officials, but because legitimate auto car dealers in Cebu couldn’t take it anymore.
The DOTC, which supervises the LTO, has made a big fuss of following up the mess as shown by LTO chief Reynaldo Berroya’s order to relieve the LTO-7 director. Of course people don’t believe this was anything significant except to placate the public fed up with government graft and corruption. Even as a supposed investigation by Congress was being undertaken, the PASG, the LTO, the Visayas Ombudsman and the DOF were reported to be conducting their own separate inquiries.
All in all, there are five agencies doing parallel but separate probes over one and the same problem. Instead of pooling resources together, these agencies have gone on their own separate ways. Like choir members singing different tunes, expect their songs to be out of tune. Instead of exposing BOC and LTO agents working in cahoots with criminal syndicates, the investigations will end up muddling the problem, and, wittingly or unwittingly, protect rather than prosecute the criminals.
Finance and especially Customs officials cannot pretend they have no knowledge how smuggling is perpetrated because this criminal activity is out to defraud the government of taxes. Smuggling does not only weaken the economy but also fosters other criminal activities like drug trafficking. BOC men know the ins and outs of smuggling operation – its brains and patrons within and without the Customs office.
Teves’ capability to handle the DOF portfolio should be based on what he has done to check undeterred smuggling happening in the country’s international ports.
A Cebuano in the House contingent of the Commission on Appointments is Rep. Eduardo Gullas (1st District). He should raise the issue of car smuggling during confirmation hearings of Secretary Teves. After all, Gullas signed the resolution asking for a congressional inquiry into the spate of car smuggling.
