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Rampant smuggling denounced: Sen. Raffy Tulfo denounces the rampant smuggling of luxury vehicles at the Bureau of Customs following the report that two Bugatti worth $3 million each were able to sneak out of the agency’s security. During Monday’s plenary session, February 12, 2024, Tulfo said Customs' modernization program should be implemented for easy coordination among government agencies such as the Land Transportation Office, among others. “We have to implement already the National Single Window Program. The Customs, they keep on delaying it. Just this year we gave them a budget of more than a billion pesos for their modernization program. This should be utilized to enhance our ability to collect customs duties efficiently,” Tulfo said. “According to our Constitution we are tasked to evolve a progressive system of taxation, meaning that the higher the income, the greater the tax paid but based on what we found out today, progressive is not taxation but tax evasion. We need funds to run this government and to provide service to the people, let us develop an effective system that would prevent tax evasion and corruption,” he added. (Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB)