DOMESTIC auto parts manufacturers recently lauded what they perceive as the government’s renewed efforts against smuggling of used vehicles after the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) convicted an auto trader who had declared his vehicle shipment as replacement truck parts instead.

The move followed the Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) Run After The Smugglers campaign, and is the first conviction of its kind.

“We hope that the current administration continues its drive against vehicle smuggling so that the Philippine automotive and parts making industries may finally take off,” said Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (MVPMAP) President Ferdinand Raquelsantos in a statement.

Records showed that in February 2008, the BOC charged a trader for declaring a shipment as containing used truck replacement parts when these were discovered as used sports-utility vehicles. The vehicles found were six Kia Sportages and three Hyundai Gallopers.

The shipment, according to Raquelsantos, is prohibited under Executive Order No. 156.

On December 12, 2012, the CTA ruled that the trader is guilty of violating the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, and now faces a jail term of not less than eight years and one day to 12 years, as well as pay an P8,000 fine.

Raquelsantos said the development “bodes well for the much-suffering domestic auto industry.”

He cited that in 2011, some 57,000 units, or 26 percent of the total registered new vehicles with the Land Transportation Office, were from the so-called informal or used car sector.

“The effect is that local auto manufacturing suffers. Affected are some 70,000 workers; 30,000 in vehicle assembly including downstream and upstream industries and 40,000 in parts manufacturing,” Raquelsantos said.

“The Philippine auto industry really needs a shot in the arm. We are hoping that this renewed government initiative against auto smuggling is the shot that will help revive our ailing domestic auto and parts making industries,” he added.