By Raymund F. Antonio
The Bureau of Customs (BoC) said yesterday it will wait 60 days before deciding if they would destroy or not the 22 luxury vehicles worth P133,684,850 currently at their custody.
“The process of deliberation should be completed in 60 days … That is the maximum period given to our legal department,” Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said.
The vehicles, which include supercars McLaren and Lamborghini, are subjects of ongoing litigation at the bureau.
“We are doing litigation because we cannot just dispose them without going through due process,” Lapeña said.
The bureau is giving the importers of the vehicles 15 days to file an appeal.
“Otherwise, the BoC will proceed with the destruction of the seized vehicles,” Lapeña said.
Proceeds from the scraps of the destroyed vehicles will be donated through the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
“That’s my decision—that it will be donated through the DILG, because the DILG has a better way of determining who can benefit on this scrap,” said Lapeña.
Last Feb. 6, President Rodrigo Duterte led the destruction of 20 smuggled luxury vehicles at the Port Area in Manila.
Ten other smuggled vehicles were simultaneously destroyed at the Ports of Davao and Cebu.
Lapeña justified the destruction of the high-end vehicles as symbolic of the government’s efforts to crack down on smuggling activities.
“If they want to bring in luxury vehicles then they declare the proper value and pay the right revenues. That’s a long-term arrangement. It will become their doings to declare the correct value and the government will collect the correct revenues,” he said.
