Smuggling activities have cheated the government of P54 billion in revenues yearly due to uncollected taxes. Rampant oil smuggling also seems to be the reason for the P9-billion drop in fuel tax revenues from 1998 to 2003.
Reyes, who is the concurrent anti-smuggling czar, ordered regular checking of CBWs by elements of the Task Force Anti-Smuggling units.
"These CBWs are being used and abused by groups involved in smuggling. It’s about time that we put the noose on these fly-by-night CBWs and tighten it," Reyes added.
During a meeting of the Committee on Anti-Smuggling, Reyes also ordered the immediate implementation of a system that will monitor the movement of barges.
"If the movement of barges are controlled and regulated, then it will be easy for us to detect and apprehended those barges that are moving out of line, which are more often than not involved in smuggling operations, particularly oil smuggling," Reyes said.
He added that an impounding facility would be put up to serve as a storage facility of smuggled items seized by the task force. — Cecille Suerte Felipe