House to probe Customs, importer over luxury cars

The House of Representatives will summon to an inquiry officials of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the owners of Monacat Trading, which illegally brought 14 luxury vehicles into the country through the Port of Batangas.

Valenzuela Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo filed House Resolution No. 2269 asking the House committee on ways and means to investigate Monacat, which brought in rare and high-priced cars but paid just a fraction of the duties and taxes on the vehicles by declaring them as lower-priced variants of the same models.

Gunigundo said Monacat could be in “cahoots” with customs officials, which would explain the company’s boldness in misdeclaring the expensive cars.

On Aug. 5, the customs bureau seized 14 cars shipped in from the United Arab Emirates, Japan and Hong Kong.

The vehicles, now held in a customs warehouse, were a McLaren 540C, a Land Rover LR2, two Land Rover Defender 90s, two Mercedez Benz C200s, two Mercedez Benz GLK350s, a Toyota Prado, a 2015 Ferrari California and four Toyota Land Cruiser GXs.

The vehicles were consigned to Monacat Trading, but the little-known company was believed to merely be a conduit of a big car smuggling ring involving an official of a major religious organization, a jewel trader and a trader of tax receipts.

The cars were seized for gross undervaluation and for lack of clearance from the customs bureau’s Import Assessment Service (IAS), which valuates car imports not sold by members of the Car Assemblers and Manufacturers of the Philippines (Campi) and the Association of Vehicle Importers and Dealers/Distributors (Avid).

“We cannot afford to lose millions of [pesos in] taxes due to technical smuggling [involving] these unscrupulous smugglers and corrupt customs officials despite the intensified drive against the illegal importation of vehicles,” Gunigundo said.

He said it was ironic that car smuggling had flourished despite reforms introduced by the Aquino administration.

“Unless and until these furtive activities are addressed and the smugglers and BOC officials are not exposed, charged and punished accordingly, the much-ballyhooed [straight path] government campaign to eradicate smuggling will not just be a shot in the wilderness but, worse, a laughingstock,” Gunigundo said. -Gil Cabacungan