The Cebu Provincial Board yesterday approved a resolution requesting Malacañang to allow the donation to the Cebu provincial government some luxury vehicles that the Bureau of Customs had confiscated.
The resolution stated that it is better for the government to donate the luxury cars or any forfeited vehicle to the province, which in turn can use these as ambulances or police cars to serve remote towns in the province.
“Anugon ra sad kaayo kung ato-ang lang na nga i-destroy ang mga sakyanan. Maypa ato-a na lang nang pangayu-on kay mapuslan pa sa katawhan,” said PB member Wenceslao Gakit, author of the resolution.
The resolution, approved during the PB out-of-town regular session held at San Remigio, said that donation is a better option than either destroying these cars or selling them at a public auction.
A public auction allows the smugglers to participate and even give them the chance to win the bid and legally recover the confiscated vehicle, noted the resolution.
The BOC is mandated by law to sell forfeited goods in public auction, but it is not barred from donating instead these items to local government units that are in need of these for better services to the public.
The national government, in an attempt to discourage smuggling of luxury vehicles into the country, recently showed the destruction of seized and forfeited vehicles.
The BOC-Port of Cebu have seized and forfeited smuggled luxury cars in the past months. This also prompted the House committee on good government to conduct a congressional inquiry on reports about rampant smuggling in Cebu. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/RAE