Sen. Roxas’s take on smuggling

For Sen. Mar Roxas, the ill-effects of smuggling on the economy is such that industries are left staring at mounting inventories and ever-growing losses as smugglers dump their goods in the market sans the payment of the right Customs duties and taxes. This should be amply addressed by the government, the senator told an audience of second-generation Filipino businessmen of Chinese descent during a forum on the economy.

“Smuggling hollows out industries,” he said, to nodding approval of the Anvil Business Club members, many of whom are surviving by the dint of their perseverance to simply coast along, clutching at the hope that the pernicious effects of smuggling will eventually be acknowledged and thereby addressed. From cement to watches, cars to rice, scooters to resin, smuggling continues to decimate the ranks of the entrepreneurs who battle competitors who bring in untaxed goods with impunity.

It is a losing battle for the local businessmen as smuggling goes on at the Customs zones and this, to the mind of Senator Roxas, is indicative of the kind of palakasan and sino ang kilala that is prevalent in the country’s various piers. The issue on smuggling has long festered and there was even a list of smugglers drawn up by the Customs bureau, and yet nothing has come out of it. The recent spectacle of car smashing meant to show the government is serious against smuggling has been met with incredulity from the public.

That car-smashing episode only underscored the seeming inability of the Customs bureau to check the activities of known smugglers. Many are asking how come no one responsible for the filing and processing of papers for the smuggled cars has been identified. The papers that were filed in connection with the cars could be properly scrutinized, thus allowing the Customs bureau to charge those guilty of the smuggling attempts before the courts. And yet no action is hitherto forthcoming. Why?

Smuggling, for the senator, unmistakably shows the kupit and kurakot mentality that has plagued the government bureaucracy. This nefarious activity clearly takes away what should have been revenues due the government by way of taxes and duties. Instead of benefiting the government coffers, kupit shortchanges the government. Kurakot, meanwhile, continues to go on in almost all agencies of the government, depriving the poor of their livelihood opportunities, for one.

The senator, a former trade secretary, said that the government should keep an eye on the greater good for the greatest number. Thus, the Customs bureau should pull out the folder on the list of known smugglers and check that smuggling rules no more at the Customs zone. Unless this is done, according to Senator Roxas, the Filipinos would continue on their march to oblivion. “We never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” he said, and pointed to the laudable 9-percent growth in Vietnam.

SBMA controversy

Once again, the country’s attraction as an investment destination is facing a new challenge with the ongoing controversy at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. The said controversy has already led to a joint resolution from among proadministration and opposition lawmakers for a congressional inquiry so that adequate safeguards could be crafted to forestall another Subic Bay caper. The controversy should not be allowed to go on; it should be resolved immediately.

The new challenge came by way of a resolution that the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) passed in the morning of June 8. SBMA, under Administrator Armando Arreza, is said to have passed a resolution terminating the 50-year lease contract of United International Group Development Corp. (UIGDC), operator of the Subic Bay golf course, for its failure to settle P16 million in rental arrears.

What the solons wanted to know is why the resolution was enforced on that same day, and through the unwarranted use of force. UIGDC officials complain that there were about 50 members of the SBMA SWAT team that swooped down on the company’s offices and confiscated the company’s properties. The solons wanted to know why the company offices were taken over despite a court’s status quo order on December 27, 2006, and a writ of preliminary injunction dated May 4, 2007.

“If the case is not resolved soon, no investor will come into the Philippines,” warned Rep. Andres Salvacion of Leyte, a former Customs official. There is worry from among the 11 solons who crossed party lines to denounce the SBMA, stressing that the SBMA disregarded court orders.

This sorry episode, involving as it does a foreign investor, could severely affect the country’s attractiveness as an investment destination. It is not worth it and the sooner this is realized, the better. Investments, after all, bring in precious foreign exchange that are then converted into pesos with the proceeds used to erect buildings, pay for workers and raise revenues for the government. Between the SBMA and the Taiwanese investor, there is a clear choice, and the use of force is unnecessary. 

E-mail: hugagni@yahoo.com.

IT is hoped no one in the Cabinet will invoke “divine inspiration” when they justify an apparently whimsical executive order to invite foreign investors with factories requiring heavy power supply to set up shop around our cheaper-rated geothermal power plants, including—oh dear—the one in environmentally sensitive Mt. Apo.

Congress has started public hearings on bills proposing measures to make medicines affordable in the country. Sen. Mar Roxas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade and Commerce, and Rep. Antonio Alvarez, chairman of House Committee on Trade and Commerce, are leading these efforts.

The catch phrase of 2007 seems to be “The Philippines is back on the radar screen.”

It is good to see the world financial community taking notice of what this country is all about when it comes to investing. And it is all about one word: profitability.

Market Files: Sen. Roxas’s take on smuggling

For Sen. Mar Roxas, the ill-effects of smuggling on the economy is such that industries are left staring at mounting inventories and ever-growing losses as smugglers dump their goods in the market sans the payment of the right Customs duties and taxes.

The golden calf

Just recently delivered from the slavery in Egypt and in the midst of the wondrous events at Sinai, Israel became apostate. Moses had been gone for 40 days and the people feared that he had disappeared.

Taxes are the lifeblood of the government. It is the means by which a country or state supports itself, to pay for and render basic services to its people. It is, therefore, essential that the government be armed with the necessary tools to be able to collect the proper amount of taxes from delinquent taxpayers.