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Friday, March 29, 2024

Korean trucks dumped in Davao, DTI bares

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The Trade and Industry department has expressed alarm over the illegal importation of Korean used trucks in the Port of Davao.

Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo wrote to Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña asking him to look into the purported influx of Korean used trucks being dumped in the country. 

“It has been brought to our attention that a number of shipments of used trucks have arrived during the last few days in the Port of Davao,” Rodolfo stated in his Sept. 6 letter to Lapeña.

Attached in the letter were the copy of the Inward Foreign Manifest showing that the subject junked trucks were as old as 1995 model.

As shown by the manifest, the used trucks arrived in Port of Davao, and were released on “as-is condition” to the following consignees:

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PhilCar Sales & Rental Service General Corp., C GlobalMotor Sales Enterprises Corp., 429 Enterprises; Reygon Li Enterprises; Davao AMG Trading Center Corp., Yesgo Importation Enterprise., Philko Trading Corp., Captain Young Heavy Equipment Corp., Goodmorning Lang Co., BCT Company Korea Ltd., and AGCAT Trading.

Rodolfo reminded Lapeña that in order to prevent junked trucks and other vehicles from proliferating the Philippine market, the Customs bureau itself issued a memorandum in September last year.

The memorandum stated “That the date of Certificate of Authority to Import (CAI) of used car must be prior to the date of arrival of the vehicles,” and that “the submission of the Release Certificates (R/Cs) on the vehicles shall be prior to the release of shipments.”

Despite non-compliance with the memorandum, the vehicles were nonetheless released by Customs.

Executive Order 156 provides that upon arrival of imported used motor vehicles at the Customs collection districts, which include the Ports of Manila, Subic and Davao, the importers shall secure from the DTI-Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau a Release Certificate.

The Release Certificate is used as basis for the release of the goods from the Bureau of Customs and subsequently, for registration of the vehicle at the Land Transportation Office.

However, despite the absence of these requirements, the BoC Davao released the old completely built up trucks and special purpose vehicles.

The legal counsel of Davao-based P.K Industries and Trading Services,Inc. also sent letters to both Davao Port district collector Romalino

Valdez and Commissioner Lapeña regarding the proliferation of these junk Completely Built Up Trucks, and Special Purpose Vehicles from Korea.

The firm claimed that the scrap vehicles were discharged and released by Customs in violation of Article 2, Sections 3c, 3d, 5 and Section 5 and 6d of Executive Order 887-A.

“The importers imported the above-mentioned commodities without a Certificate of Roadworthiness and Compliance with the Emission Standards as required by law,” the letters read.

To date, the bureau has yet to make action on the matter, as vessels containing at least 100 old completely built up trucks and special purpose vehicles continue to arrive on a monthly basis at the country’s ports as early as last year.

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