Cagayan board may ask for Noy’s nod on car imports

TUGUEGARAO CITY , Philippines   â€“ The Cagayan provincial board is considering a resolution calling on Malacañang to intercede in the attempt to save the used car importation industry.

Board member Alphonse Jean Ponce, however, admitted this would be their last recourse if the Supreme Court upholds the validity of Executive Order 156.

“We are considering such possibility if the Supreme Court affirms with finality EO 156. We believe the President has the last say on the issue as CEZA (Cagayan Economic Zone Authority) is under the Office of the President,” Ponce said.

“We need the industry more than ever to help prop up local employment, tourism and investment inside the economic zone,” he said.

Ponce, the son of CEZA administrator Jose Marie Ponce, expressed confidence that Malacañang will see the economic wisdom of retaining the industry, which is the only major economic activity inside Port Irene.

Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, during his visit at CEZA Wednesday, said a new executive order by President Aquino could save the industry or finally settle the legitimacy issue of the car importation controversy.

Former Justice secretary Silvestre Bello III, who also served as Arroyo’s solicitor-general, said if the President wants to close the book on the issue, he could exercise his prerogative of issuing another executive order superseding EO 156.

The EO, signed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004, banned the importation of second-hand vehicles.

The other day, 400 second-hand vehicles arrived at Port Irene, the second shipment of used vehicles this year or after the SC upheld EO 156 on Jan. 7.

Before the arrival of the 400 Japan-made used cars, Biazon and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) made preparations to stop the processing of the documents of the Japanese cars, as well as the 200 South Korean-made used cars that arrived earlier.

CEZA administrator Ponce said there was nothing illegal in the shipment as long as they are kept within the economic zone.

CEZA officials said they were considering re-exporting them should the SC decide with finality the prohibition on car importation.

More than 4,000 workers, mostly under the employ of car importers, stand to lose their jobs if the government totally bans car imports, which the Association of Rebuilders Industry in Cagayan (ARIC) said had generated at least P350 billion for the national coffers last year.

ARIC is the umbrella group of the more than ten firms engaged in the second-hand importation business inside the economic zone.

– With Raymund Catindig