Pimentel tells Customs: Auction off expensive vehicles to car collectors abroad

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Thursday urged the Bureau of Customs to sell smuggled luxury vehicles at public auctions instead of merely wrecking them.

Pimentel proposed to auction off expensive cars to serious car collectors abroad. The proceeds could be used to aid calamity victims.

“We don’t want them to be auctioned, only for those who smuggled them in, to benefit. But if we sell them to buyers abroad, then we would have achieved the same objective and earned money for the government to use in worthwhile causes like helping victims of natural calamities,” he said.

The Senate president added: “Let us not waste the energy, resources and intellectual effort consumed in the making of these luxury cars.”

READ: Duterte leads wreckage of smuggled cars

Last Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte oversaw the destruction of more than P61 million worth of smuggled luxury vehicles at the BOC as part of a drive to combat corruption.

The move drew mixed reactions from the public.

Destroyed at the Customs headquarters in Manila were 20 illegally imported vehicles which included brands such as Pajero, BMW, Jaguar, Audi, Mercedes, Ford Explorer, Corvette Stingray and Lexus.

Aside from the condemned cars in Manila, 10 others were destroyed in Cebu and Davao City.

Duterte said he ordered the destruction of the vehicles to prevent syndicates and smugglers from buying them at a lower price during an auction.