BOC to sell over 20 smuggled cars worth P100M this year

MANILA, Philippines—To raise more money for the government, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) plans to sell more than 20 smuggled cars, worth at least P100 million, within the year.

Customs Deputy Commissioner Edward Dy Buco told a press briefing on Tuesday (July 12) that the bureau already ordered the Manila International Container Port (MICP) to expedite the valuation of the seized smuggled luxury vehicles in its upkeep.

Dy Buco later told the Inquirer that the confiscated luxury cars were mostly brand new, although some had been under worse conditions.

Since pricing had been a deterrent to selling hot cars in past auctions– pundits claimed the BOC overpriced these vehicles—Dy Buco said the bureau’s tack included reducing the floor values by about 10 percent after every auction where units are unsold.

Dy Buco said there were also safeguards in place to ensure that the bidders were not the cars’ smugglers, mainly through background checks. The BOC official said the winning bidders in recent auctions were also in the business of car trading.

Last month, the BOC raised P20.8 million from the sale of two used smuggled cars: an abandoned 2006 Lamborghini Vin at P10.4 million and a 2008 Ferrari Scuderia 430 at P10.5 million.

Back in April, the BOC generated P6.3 million from selling three luxury vehicles — a Mercedes-Benz G500 sport utility vehicle (SUV) at P4.8 million, a 2001 Mercedes-Benz SLK55, at P775,000 as well as a 2001 Mercedes-Benz SLK350 at P730,000.

Pre-pandemic, the BOC destroyed hot cars in public to show that the government was serious in its anti-smuggling drive.

But late last year, the government changed its tack and since December had been auctioning off some of the smuggled luxury vehicles it had seized to raise additional revenues amid the prolonged fight against COVID-19.

Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero disclosed that the BOC was also looking into the same auction method — online bidding, in cooperation with the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) and the state-run Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) — for other smuggled commodities like rice and food items.

Dy Buco said talks were ongoing with the BTr and Landbank to shift other BOC auctions online.

Also, Customs Assistant Commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla said the BOC and new Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Lilia Guillermo already started talks to exchange taxpayers’ data between the two biggest tax-collection agencies for background checks.

The effort to generate additional funds came as BTr on Tuesday raised P35 billion from reissued seven-year bonds despite a higher yield of 6.76 percent.

While Tuesday’s annual rate was below the coupon of 6.875 percent when these IOUs were first issued in 2019, similar outstanding debt paper was priced at a lower 6.584 percent. Comparable seven-year securities were even cheaper at 6.482 percent.

Asked if the BTr was “OK” to borrow at elevated yields, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon replied: “Not OK, but given the current market environment, we need to provide reasonable returns to investors for the risks they are taking.” Commercial debt yields were on the rise amid elevated global inflation, and, in response, central banks worldwide aggressively hiking interest rates.

Local creditors or government securities eligible dealers (GSEDs) were willing to lend the BTr a total of P91.9 billion or over 2.6 times more than the amount borrowed. As such, the tap facility window was opened to raise another P5 billion. To date, this treasury bond maturing in January 2029 had an outstanding volume totaling P220 billion.

TSB