PNP to set up port clearance system for vehicles

MANILA, Philippines -  The Philippine National Police (PNP) is set to impose a vehicle clearance system at all ports in a bid to step up its operations against car theft and carjacking.

PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo, however, assured the public that the clearance system would not delay travel and entail additional expenses to commuters.

“We will be coordinating with the Philippine Ports Authority to activate the return of clearance in the port to be implemented by the Highway Patrol Group (HPG),” Bacalzo said.

He said the clearance could be obtained within 10 minutes, and no fees would be exacted at the port.

HPG director Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina had earlier recommended the re-imposition of motor vehicle shipping permits before sea transport. He said the clearance requirement from the HPG for the transfer of motor vehicles from one island to another through ferry services was stopped on May 11, 2001.

As a result of the non-issuance of clearances, Espina said vehicles stolen in Metro Manila were shipped to either the Visayas or Mindanao.

In 2010 alone, 212 stolen vehicles were recovered by the HPG in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Forty-eight of these were stolen in Metro Manila, police said.

Bacalzo said he and other PNP officials met with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo to fine-tune the measures to boost the anti-carjacking campaign of the government.

A guideline on the clearance system would be released soon, he said.

Bacalzo said the government campaign against car theft effectively reduced the number of incidents nationwide.

He added that there were about 200 car thefts during the first three months of the year, which indicated sharp decrease compared to the previous records of about 500 cases recorded in a month.

President Aquino had ordered the PNP to go after car thieves after the murder of car traders Emerson Lozano and Venson Evangelista and Lozano’s co-employee Ernani Sensil last Jan. 14. The three victims were shot and their bodies burned.

Brothers Raymond and Roger Dominguez, said to be the leaders of a car theft gang, and several others were charged with the killings.