The Bureau of Customs will donate more than 800 seized imported secondhand vehicles to various government agencies and put them in good use rather than destroy them.
In a statement, the bureau said it would create a legal team tasked to review in donating the secondhand vehicles, seized inside the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority due to a government ban on importation of said cars.
The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Executive Order 156, prohibiting the importation of secondhand vehicles into the country to strengthen the local automotive industry and to deter smuggling.
District Collector Arienito Claveria of the Port of Aparri, Cagayan said the Bureau had to coordinate with CEZA management as to the disposition of the vehicles that have been seized and stocked within the facilities of CEZA.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Roa-Duterte stated that he planned to have the seized vehicles distributed to various government agencies rather than having them destroyed.
The announcement was made to address the need of various government agencies especially those that are located in far-flung areas.
Deputy Commissioner Edward James Dy Buco of the BOC Assessment Operations and Coordination Group emphasized that creating a legal team would expedite the President’s order to dispose of and distribute the vehicles to identified government agencies such as the Local Government Units, Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police, among others.
