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  1. Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    2,452
    #11
    pakapalan na talaga ng mukha. . .knowing that even if their illegal activities get exposed e magagawan pa rin paraan para makalusot. . .there's no stopping these corrupt government officials. . .pro admin or opposition, pare-pareho yang mga yan

  2. Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    25,039
    #12
    Even the opposition can't do anything bout it. They know how politically influential JPE is. They won't dare touch him. Pati mga activista takot sa kanya.

  3. Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    25,039
    #13
    Above the law

    MANILA, Philippines—There’s a saying among lawyers that the law is what the Supreme Court says it is. Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, a prominent lawyer before he joined the government of Ferdinand Marcos and later became its chief martial law enforcer, doesn’t agree. The law, he seems to be saying these days, is what Enrile says it is.

    In a decision handed down in February 2006, the Supreme Court upheld Executive Order No. 156 banning the importation of used motor vehicles, except trucks, buses, “special purpose vehicles” (such as ambulances), and those brought in by returning residents or by immigrants for their own use. The Court also allowed the use, storage, trade and export of second-hand vehicles within the Subic Bay Freeport, but said these “cannot be imported outside the secured, fenced-in former Subic Naval Base area.”

    Enrile claims the Court erred, saying only Congress, and not the President, can ban the importation of certain products. “With all due respect to them, they made a mistake,” he said.

    Of course, there is nothing wrong with expressing a dissenting opinion, but acting on that contrary opinion must be illegal. And that is what Enrile is trying to justify.

    Since June 2005, James Kocher, Enrile’s son-in-law, has been operating a 5-hectare vehicle yard near Port Irene inside the Cagayan Economic Zone, in Sta. Ana, Cagayan. Business picked up in 2006 after 80 percent of the used-car importers in Subic moved to Port Irene following the Supreme Court decision outlawing the importation of used cars to the free port. Kocher said that in the past three years 7,625 used vehicles were imported through Port Irene.

    After a visit to the economic zone last May, representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, commonly called Amcham, questioned Kocher’s business, citing EO 156. But Enrile bristles at any suggestion that smuggling has been going on inside his home turf. “That’s my area,” he said. “I don’t want anybody to smuggle there.” Kocher operated the yard where the vehicles are kept before they are registered “so that there will be no smuggling,” Enrile explained. And Kocher is there as his representative, paid out of his own pocket, “to see to it that there is no smuggling.”

    Why the senator would take it upon himself to do what the Bureau of Customs, the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group and the Philippine National Police should be doing has not been explained. Are they perhaps not equal to the task? Didn’t he say that if anyone can do any smuggling in his area, “that will be me”? So what is he so worried about that he has to assign his own son-in-law to be his eyes and ears in Port Irene?

    Enrile, who berated representatives of the foreign chambers of commerce for opposing amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act and told to leave if they didn’t like it here, apparently is still on the warpath against foreign businessmen. Singling out the Amcham representatives who went to Port Irene, Enrile reminded them, “Nobody can threaten me in my own area. Nobody can threaten me in this country.”

    But who is threatening whom? Indeed, who would dare to threaten the good senator?

    Right now everyone who should be looking into the complaint of Amcham is rushing to appease Enrile. Undersecretary Antonio Villar, PASG chief, said the senator could not have condoned any smuggling in his turf because it was he who had asked the PASG to investigate reports of smuggling two months ago. But why would Enrile make that request when he is so certain there is no smuggling in Port Irene?

    Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales also says the Cagayan Economic Zone has been faithful in collecting taxes and other import duties. “We have no report of any car smuggling because importers are really paying their taxes,” he said. But smuggling does not only mean evading payment of import duties. It can also mean the importation of goods that are banned—like used cars—and the mere payment of taxes does not legitimize the act.

    Even Malacañang officials are falling over themselves in trying to justify the trade in secondhand vehicles in Cagayan. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said he was very sure Enrile would not allow smuggling in Cagayan. “Who is the national leader who would condone illegal activities?” he asked. If Ermita was so dumb as to be unaware of what was going on during the Marcos kleptocracy, maybe he should ask Enrile. Better still, he should check the record of his own boss, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
    http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquirer.../Above-the-law

  4. Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Posts
    4,488
    #14
    Enrile wrong, SC right, says Miriam Santiago



    Philippine Daily Inquirer
    First Posted 06:39:00 07/29/2008


    MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago Monday said imports of second-hand vehicles were not allowed by the Supreme Court and payment of taxes and duties would not make them legal in the Cagayan Export Zone.
    “The court banned importation of used vehicles. If the ban is violated, no amount of customs duties and taxes can justify an illegal act,” Santiago said in reaction to Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile’s claim that Executive Order No. 156 was wrong.
    The Supreme Court upheld EO 156 banning second-hand imports, specifically in the Subic and Cebu free ports.
    Santiago gave her views on the importation of used vehicles at Port Irene in Sta. Ana, Cagayan, on the eve of the Senate hearing on the alleged smuggling activities at the port. The committee on ways and means, chaired by Sen. Francis Escudero, is conducting the hearing.
    The Supreme Court decision has prompted importers and converters of right-hand drive vehicles from the free ports to move to Port Irene in Cagayan, Enrile’s home province.
    More than 7,000 used cars, mostly luxury vehicles, have been sold out of Port Irene since 2005, according to the American Chamber of Commerce.
    Enrile claimed that EO 156 was unconstitutional and that the Supreme Court made a mistake in upholding it. He said only Congress and not Malacañang could ban an imported item.
    “Under the rule of law, the Supreme Court is never wrong. It does not matter that some people think that the court may have made an egregious mistake. What the Supreme Court says is final and the end of the matter. It is the law, and should be obeyed without murmur, so that society will remain stable,” Santiago said.
    She said that the Supreme Court decision was penned by Justice Consuelo Ynares Santiago (no relation), who was looked up to as a role model for honesty and competence by the UP Women Lawyers’ Circle.
    “I don’t think she or the Supreme Court was wrong,” Santiago said.
    She said that if all free ports in the country except Subic were allowed to import used vehicles, “that in itself would be an absurdity, and the law hates absurdity.”
    Earlier, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said that Port Irene was not an independent republic because all laws should apply to every inch of the country.
    The port also hosts a fast-growing Internet gambling operations and is outside the jurisdiction of state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. Gil Cabacungan Jr.



    Source: www.inquirer.net
    July 29, 2008

    Tama si Senadora dito, kapag labag sa batas, kahit anong duties & taxes binayad sa customs, illegal pa rin yan

  5. Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    25,039
    #15
    The senators berated the goverment agencies for playing along with Enrile's little game.

  6. Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    1,751
    #16
    hehe kelan ba talaga mawawala sa mundo yang enrile na yan? more than 80 yrs old na at wala pa rin syang konsensya or hiya sa sarili?

  7. Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    120
    #17
    Just a week or so before all the news, my relative was at Cagayan. He was offered this monster:


    I wonder how legit it is.

  8. Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    25,039
    #18
    I hear the kissing sound on Enrile's wrinkled butt...

    Ermita: No smuggling in Port Irene


    There's no smuggling of used cars in Port Irene in Cagayan, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Wednesday, citing findings of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG).

    In his weekly press conference, Ermita said PASG chief Antonio Villar has been to Port Irene to look into allegations of smuggling of used cars and he "found out there's no smuggling."


    Cagayan is the home province of administration Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.

    Ermita said Villar's findings are validated by the statement of officials of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (AmCham) before the Senate Tuesday that it has not released a report which states that there is smuggling in Port Irene, contrary to news reports published last week by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

    Ermita said the Supreme Court decision in 2007 upholding President Arroyo's Executive Order 156 banning the importation of used motor vehicles in free port zones, except under certain conditions, "pertains to smuggling in Subic." Thus, the SC decision applies to Subic but "not necessarily to Port Irene."

    He said the president has another executive order on tariffs on used motor vehicles and this should be applied in the free port zones on a case-to-case basis.

    On Senator Francis Escudero's statements that four government agencies may be tolerating smuggling in Port Irene, Ermita said it is up to the investigating committees of the Senate to come up with their findings and evidence, but according to the PASG, "they did not find any smuggling at all."
    http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topoftheh...StoryId=126828

  9. Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    25,039
    #19
    Quote Originally Posted by coiter View Post
    hehe kelan ba talaga mawawala sa mundo yang enrile na yan? more than 80 yrs old na at wala pa rin syang konsensya or hiya sa sarili?
    Yung masasamang damo ang huling kinukuha ni Lord...Kagaya rin ni Imeldific.

  10. Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    25,039
    #20
    They're back!!!

    Used Porsches, BMWs back in Cagayan | Inquirer News

    Used Porsches, BMWs back in Cagayan
    By Melvin Gascon
    Inquirer Northern Luzon
    8:58 pm | Tuesday, September 6th, 2011


    CAR BOOM IN CAGAYAN A fleet of imported used luxury vehicles—including Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes, Hummers—await wash and polishing work at a car lot in Casambalangan village in Santa Ana, Cagayan province. MELVIN GASCON / INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

    SANTA ANA, Cagayan—The trade of used vehicles has started to gain momentum at the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZF) as people looking for cheaper vehicles have been trooping to the auto yard in Casambalangan village here, two months since a 2008 ban on car importation in the free port has been lifted by the Court of Appeals (CA).

    Julian Jovy Gonzales, CSEZF officer in charge, said the five locators (sublicensees) occupying the 5-hectare car lot have begun replenishing their stocks of used cars mostly from Japan and Korea, with a monthly average of two shipments of at least 250 cars arriving at Port Irene here.

    Among the vehicles sold here are expensive subcompact coupés and sedans, sport utility vehicles and buses. These include Hummers, Porsches and BMWs.

    “We were told [by traders] that business has been going back to normal. We hope that more people would be coming over to have a look at the new stocks here,” said Gonzales.

    1,479 vehicles

    Ralph Patrick Iloy, CSEZF port operations chief, said seven shipments of at least 1,479 vehicles have arrived since the resumption of used car trade here in late July.

    Of this number, 903 units were imported from Japan, while 576, including 82 buses, came from Korea.

    When the Inquirer visited the car lot on Saturday, workers were busy refurbishing and polishing the imported cars, some of which bore tags as either sold or reserved.

    “We give assurance that these imported vehicles are ‘tsunami-free,’” Gonzales said, referring to the March 2011 tsunami that hit cities along Japan’s eastern coastline, sweeping away and destroying cars, ships and buildings.

    Right-hand drive vehicles from Japan need to be converted to left-hand drive to meet Land Transportation Office (LTO) requirements in the Philippines, businessmen in the zone said.

    Filipino ingenuity

    With Filipino mechanics’ ingenuity, the conversion cannot be readily seen when vehicles leave the compound, Inquirer sources in the zone said. They said these used vehicles can easily be passed off as brand new. Among the bestsellers, sources said, are vans and minivans, including older models of the Korean-made Hyundai Starex, which reportedly sell for about P450,000 each.

    At the compound of New Apollo CSEZA Inc., the most eye-catching units were sports cars that include Porsches, Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs and Volkswagen Beetle convertibles. Five H2 Hummers were also in stock.

    “We are starting to receive the same types of customers like before—middle-class businessmen and farmers who want quality but affordable second-hand vehicles,” Sylvia Geroue, New Apollo manager, said.

    New Apollo is one of the car trading companies that were given licenses by Forerunner Multi Resources Inc., the main licensee for car importation operations at CSEZF.

    Arroyo EO

    In July 2008, used car trade here stopped after the Supreme Court affirmed the legality of Executive Order No. 156, issued by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in December 2002.

    Forerunner questioned the application on the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) of EO 156, which bans used car importation in the Philippines.

    It would normally take 30 days for an imported used vehicle to undergo processing of its registration requirements until it is ready for use by its new owners in the Philippines, Iloy said.

    The process starts as soon as shipments arrive at Port Irene, when a team composed of “boarding parties” from the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Immigration, Philippine Coast Guard, Ceza, Forerunner and quarantine officials inspect the contents of cargo ships before off-loading.

    The BOC examines the vehicles for tariff duties that must be paid by the importer to the government. Once taxes are paid, the vehicles are displayed at the auto yard while undergoing the usual refurbishing.

    The importer then files an application and pays for registration of the vehicles with the LTO, which, in turn, checks the units for road-worthiness and eventually issues the registration documents and a license plate.

    “Once all LTO documents are processed, BOC, Ceza and Forerunner approve the gate pass for the vehicles, ready for purchase and driven out of the free port,” Iloy said.

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Cagayan Export zone(CEZ) eyed in car smuggling!