OBEDIENTLY bowing to pressure from a small special interest group, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) moved this week to impose what it calls a “safeguard duty” on imported automobiles and light commercial vehicles, a decision that will only wreak further economic havoc on an important business sector that has already been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new punitive tariffs, which will be imposed in the form of pre-delivery bonds in the amount of P70,000 for each imported passenger car and P150,000 for each imported light commercial vehicle, will go into effect on January 20 for an initial period of 200 days.