Elizabeth Lee resigns as CAMPI President; not heading to Customs post [update]
Elizabeth Lee has resigned from her position as president of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Inc. (CAMPI), and has also “retired” from her position as Chief of Universal Motors Corporation. Ms. Lee made the announcement in a letter sent to media yesterday. In the letter, she counts a campaign to curb the smuggling of used vehicles into the Philippines as CAMPI’s major achievement under her leadership.
Said Ms. Lee: “…as an association to get a Presidential order and a key Supreme Court ruling in 2004 upholding the prohibition on imported used vehicles which to this day, is the driving force that will hopefully, help eradicate smuggling in the long term.
“Because of the rulings, the auto industry has successfully turned the tables on smuggling from its peak in 2004 where 61% of total new registrations were from the informal sector, down to only 25% based on 2010 figures.
“This means that the formal auto industry (notably CAMPI members) increased their share of the market from 39% to 75%. We voiced alarm about the problem of imported undervalued brand new vehicles, that break the rules of fair play and further rob the country of much needed revenues.”
An article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer written by Botchi Santos has questioned the valuation of brand-new vehicle imports by some companies.
In January 2011, four car distributors left CAMPI, including three under the ownership of Richard Lee.
Jose Alvarez, chairman of Columbian Autocar (Kia) and Asian Carmakers (BMW) and CAMPI Vice-president, has been reported to have taken over the CAMPI leadership as interim president.
Ms. Lee’s resignation is seen as a preamble to her taking up the post of commissioner of the Bureau of Customs. The would-be appointment has been reported by various news outlets. If she is so appointed, her mission would no doubt be to clean up the reputedly corrupt government agency, as part of President Aquino’s anti-corruption campaign. For that, at the very least, we remain cautiously optimistic.
Update: Sources say that Bureau of Customs officials are denying that Ms. Lee is up for a job in the government agency. Other sources peg Ms. Lee’s resignation as a result of a drastic change of management at Universal Motors Corp.
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