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Finance Secretary Margarito Teves can show to the Commission on
Appointments his skills in running the Department of Finance by
going after smugglers, Sen. Richard Gordon said on Thursday.
He said that if the smugglers will get away with
their activities, Teves will have to pay for it. The commission
suspended for two weeks the consideration of his ad interim
appointment after he failed to shed light on some concerns,
particularly on smuggling issues raised by Gordon and other members
of the bicameral body.
Gordon said the national government can raise up
to P26 billion in additional revenues if Teves runs after smugglers.
He said that the government could recover P9 billion from cigarette
smuggling, P4 billion from liquor smuggling, and P13 billion from
car smuggling.
He noted that Coastal, an oil company, had
already been required to pay P470 million in taxes and that another
oil firm, Tri-Solid, is being investigated.
Gordon also chided Customs officials for not
doing enough to stop smuggling in the country. He pointed out that
the Bureau of Customs does not even have an order of battle against
top smugglers in the country.
At the same time, Gordon acknowledged that the
strong clout of the godfathers of smugglers could stymie all efforts
to curb this economic blight.
“The real problem is not smuggling but the
invulnerable power of very high officials to protect smuggling rings
on a regular basis,” he said.
-- Efren L. Danao
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