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THE
Senate ways and means committee is set to dig deeper
Tuesday into an American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham)
report alleging rampant car smuggling activities at Port
Irene economic zone in Cagayan, home turf of Sen. Juan
Ponce Enrile.
The
panel’s chairman, Sen. Francis Escudero, confirmed,
however, that Enrile sent word he would recuse from the
committee hearing after the AmCham report implicated his
son-in-law, James Kocher, in the used car business
irregularities at the remote port run by the Cagayan
Economic Zone Authority (Ceza).
“We have
no plans to set aside [an inquiry into the AmCham report
on car smuggling at Port Irene] just because of a
senator’s membership in the [inquiring committee],”
Escudero told reporters on Thursday. “This morning,
Senator Enrile told me of his plan to inhibit himself
from the hearing on the Ceza in connection with the
AmCham’s complaint,” he told reporters in Filipino.
Appearing at the weekly Kapihan sa Senado media forum,
Escudero said Tuesday’s public hearing will be limited
to the AmCham report on Port Irene because, he said,
that’s the only place where the irregularity was
alleged.
Asked if
recusation meant Enrile will not even show up at the
hearing room, Escudero replied: “I don’t know, but
inhibition technically means he will not participate in
answering or propounding questions.” Still, he conceded
that nothing prevents anyone from observing the
proceedings since the hearing is open to the public.
“The
inquiry focuses on smuggling, either of sports-utility
vehicles or sports cars and other luxury cars, as
reported in the newspapers and which dragged the name of
a relative of senator Enrile,” Escudero added.
Ceza
officials are among those being summoned to appear at
the hearing, as well as representatives of AmCham and
the car manufacturers’ group. He said Kochner will be
given a chance to air his side.
Escudero
said the inquiry will likewise review the entire
procedure in bringing in all kind of imported goods into
the country through Port Irene.
This
developed after Enrile earlier questioned the motives of
the AmCham for linking his family to alleged rampant car
smuggling activities at Port Irene.
“If they
[AmCham members]) can produce affordable cars, then
importation of used vehicles will be stopped,” Enrile
told reporters, as he asked why Amcham, among all
foreign chambers of commerce based here, is the only one
raising the issue of car smuggling “and not others like
the Japanese motor industry.”
In a
news conference on Wednesday, Enrile also debunked an
Amchan report implicating Kocher, his son-in-law.
According to Enrile, imported vehicles that enter the
Ceza freeport are “stored in a yard with high walls” and
information as to the make and model on the cars brought
in are stored in Ceza’s database. “No cars can go out of
the freeport gate without payment of correct duties and
taxes [and] no brand new cars are allowed to enter the
port.”
Kochner
is assigned to monitor the operations of the yard, as
well as all vehicles that come in and out of the free
port. He added that Kochner, who is not receiving any
salary from Ceza, has reported that the yard has been
earning P320,000 annually since he started managing its
operations for the past three years.
He also
reported that government income from taxes and duties,
as well as stevedoring operations at Port Irene grew
from P300,000 a year to P100 million in the last three
years.
Enrile
said locators at the Cagayan Free Port were specifically
warned at the outset that “smuggling will not be
tolerated” in the area. “Anyone who alleges that
smuggling exists can go and check the records of Ceza,”
he added. |
