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By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said
Wednesday that there is no car smuggling at the Cagayan Economic
Zone Authority (CEZA) in Port Irene, Cagayan, contrary to the
allegations of the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham).
In a press conference at the
Senate, Enrile said that no brand new vehicle enters CEZA and that
all used vehicles that moves out of the zone have paid the correct
duties and taxes.
“Everything is recorded. We
challenge anybody to go there, examine the records and find out if
there is any car that is smuggled. I challenge Amcham, Ford,
Chevrolet, General Motors and everybody to show a single case of
smuggling,” he said.
Port Irene became the entry point
of used vehicles after the Supreme Court had banned their entry at
the Subic Bay Freeport. Enrile said the ruling does not apply to
Port Irene, which is operating under a different law.
He gave reporters data showing
that 7,625 vehicles had entered CEZA from June 2005 to May 2008, of
which 4,456 were 1995 to 1999 models.
“Government income from taxes
and duties and stevedoring operations in Port Irene went up from
P300,000 to P100 million in the last three years,” he said of
government revenues collected principally from the entry of used
vehicles.
No competition with new
vehicles
He refuted the claim of Amcham
that the importation of used vehicles is competing with car
assemblers.
“The people who are buying cars
in Port Irene cannot buy the cars assembled in this country. In
fact, if you study the sales of Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and the
others who are bringing cars into the country or assembling cars
into the country for the Philippine market—their sales went up by
17 percent,” he added.
He said that he would close Port
Irene to the entry of used vehicles if Ford Motors could put up a
plant to provide a cheap car affordable for ordinary people.
“Ford and the other American
motor companies cannot sell cars in this country because their cars
are expensive and they consume too much gasoline,” Enrile said.
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