The law allows BOC to sell seized goods — Bernardo

The Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP) allows the Bureau of Customs to sell seized contraband goods under certain conditions, Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo said yesterday.

Bernardo said these conditions are: if the contraband has commercial value; it is capable of legitimate use; and there is assurance that the use thereof is for legitimate purposes only.

The Customs chief cited Sec. 2600 of the TCCP empowering BOC to dispose of contrabands under these conditions through public bidding, and the favorable opinion of the Department of Justice.

The BOC sought an opinion from the DOJ primarily on the issue of right-hand-drive vehicles where thousands of them were confiscated by the bureau after the passage of a law in 1979 banning the importation of RHDs.

Ramon Balite, chief of the BOC’s vehicle importation compliance monitoring unit, said the sale through auction of RHDs is projected to generate from P500 million to P1 billion for the government.

Bernardo said RHDs that remain unsold after two failed biddings may be used by the bureau for revenue collection or for fighting smuggling, or for official use by another national agency, or for donation to a government charitable instituion subject to conversation to left-hand-drive.