|
By Efren L. Danao Senior
Reporter
The important legislation to curb
the P120-billion-a-year smuggling problem will always play second
fiddle in the Senate to celebrated cases.
Recently, for example, hearings
on the broadband project, whose alleged overprice is only $130
million or a little more than P5.3 billion, or the inquiry into the
Glorietta 2 explosion, hogged the spotlight.
Last Tuesday, most of the
senators were at the Glorietta 2 inquiry, which was covered live by
radio and cable TV, while Sen. Francis Escudero was all by his
lonesome in the public hearing on the proposed Anti-Smuggling Act of
2008.
When a TV cameraman entered the
hearing room, Escudero, chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and
Means, quipped that the audio of the camera might have been turned
off so the resource persons should not worry about saying anything
controversial.
A Customs broker, Bert Domondon,
said unlike other dances where only two are involved, it takes three
to dance to the tune of smuggling “music.” He identified the
three as the importer, the Customs broker and the Bureau of Customs.
“If one of the three refuses to
dance, then it becomes ‘tinikling’ and one of the dancers would
have his foot squeezed,” Domondon said, referring to the popular
traditional folk dance using bamboo.
The lack of attention given to
the huge problem of smuggling was not lost on Jess Arranza,
president of the Federation of Philippine Industries. He expressed
disappointment that little attention was given by the Senate to the
smuggling problem.
He also told the Ways and Means
Committee of his problems with the Bureau of Customs in his crusade
against smuggling. He said the International Monetary Fund recorded
$45-billion worth of imports by the Philippines but the Bureau of
Customs had records of only $32 billion.
Arranza attributed this to the
undervaluation of the shipments with the approval of crooked Customs
officials.
|
