Probe on alleged undervaluation of imported cars sought

A lawmaker on Tuesday sought an investigation into the allegedly undervaluation of imported cars supposedly by Customs officials and car manufacturers and distributors that results in billions of pesos of lost government revenues. In filing House Resolution 709, Zambales Rep. Ma Milagros Magsaysay asked the House committees on good government and ways and means to investigate the possible connivance between Customs officials and car manufacturers and distributors. She said she received a report that from 2006 to present, some imported vehicles were allegedly released by the Bureau of Customs without proper assessment of their taxes and duties. She said distributors of luxury vehicles such as Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Porsche, Audi, BMW, among others, allegedly did not pay the proper taxes and duties that should have been slapped on imported vehicles. “[These] result to undervaluation of taxes and duties that should have been collected by the Bureau of Customs before [the vehicles] were released from customs zone," said Magsaysay “It was alleged that a possible connivance occurred among the distributors and manufacturers of the above mentioned vehicles and the officials of the Bureau of Customs to deprive the government of the proper taxes and duties," she said. The lawmaker did not say how much revenue the government lost due to the undervaluation. Modus operandi The modus operandi of the BOC, she said, was allegedly not to assess the vehicles on an individual transaction but on a per lot basis. This means vehicles of the same brand and the same model were assessed with a certain amount across the board instead of basing it on the displacement or horse power capacity of a particular vehicle. Magsaysay alleged that, for example, a Mercedes Benz S Class 350 and Mercedes Benz S Class 500 will be both assessed at P2 million while Toyota Vios 1300 and Toyota Vios 1600 will be both assessed at P200,000. “In order to ferret out the veracity of these reports, it is imperative that a congressional inquiry must be held in aid of legislation at the soonest time possible," she said. She expressed hope the inquiry will result to a new legislation or an amendment to the present one to address loopholes and deficiencies in the present system. - Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMANews.TV