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-:
w v*v"r, ln a n i i
TUESDAY septemuer rz, zors I
'Smuggling costs govt P200B every year'
A party,list lawmaker urged the
govemment to intensiff effons
to curb srnuggling, saying P200
billion is lost every year because
of this illegal activity.
"lnstead of introducing new tax
reforms to raise revenue for the
government's social services and
infiastructure programs, the govem-
ment should be looking into the
isue of smuggling at BoC (Bureau
of Customs), especiatly steel,r' Buhay
party-list Rep. Iose 'Lito'Atienza said.
He lamented that the Customs
t I ffi e$'n et-
&3
bueau has yet to implement a provi-
sion of the Customs Modemization
and Tariff Act on the pre-inspecion
of container r,nru.
Section 440 of the law mandates
that containervans should be inspect-
ed at their ports of origin.
"They should be cleared at the
port of origin before shipment.
When the Duterte administration
came in, we er?ected that it would
be implemented, blt until now,
nothing has changed. Obviously,
the DoF'(Department of Finance)
\ /o4g€ -Asa
is not keen on its implementation,"
the lawmaker said when the House
of Representatives delibented on the
budga ofthe DoE
"Obviously the govemmmt-the
BoC and the DoF-don't want to
know what is inside the container
vans. They are merely dependent on
the dedaration of impprters. Indus-
ty-ana$6 say rhat a minimum of
P200 billion
lost every year due to
is
unabated smuggling" Atienza said.
"The huge amount of tax rdmues
the gor,rmment is losing due to this
rnalpractice could be used to fund
infrastructure prcjects underthe Presi-
dmt's'Build, Build, Build"programs,
particularly those that are intended to
alleviate the country's tansportation
s)Btem to ease the commuten' daily
burden,' he added.
The lawmaker earlier urgid the
govemment to look into the possible
collusion between Customs officials
and large steel makers, saying lost t?x
revenues rooted on comtption could
be enough to fund social services and
infrastrucnle projecs. JIM PILAPIL