A PRICEY Rolls-Royce Cullinan, which flunked two earlier biddings, was finally sold by the Bureau of Customs on Wednesday for a reduced price of P29 million.
The luxury car, confiscated by the government from private contractor Sarah Discaya, became notorious after she admitted in a media interview that she bought it specifically for a free umbrella that came with the sale.
Meanwhile, BOC Deputy Chief of Staff Chris Bendijo said the bureau has not scheduled the auction of luxury vehicles owned by companies linked to former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, who was also at the epicenter of the corruption scandal.
“The period within which they were supposed to submit their initial documents, they did not submit any. That’s why we will be constrained to issue a WST (Warrant of Seizure and Detention). After the issuance, they will be given another, if I’m not mistaken, 15 days to submit again their documentary requirements. If not, we will now be issuing a forfeiture order,” he said.
The BOC, which conducted the public bidding, said the floor price for the Rolls Royce was lowered from the initial P45.3 million.
Igorot Stone Kingdom Inc., a family-owned corporation that operates a theme park of the same name in Baguio City, won the bid.
Pio Velasco, founder and chief executive of the firm, said they bought it to “preserve history.”
“It is historical because it opened the flood gates, the interest of the nation in this rampant corruption,” Velasco explained, adding that they simply intend to put the car on display at their theme park “to make the people aware that corruption does not pay.”
There were two others who qualified to bid, one of them television host Willie Revillame, but they failed to send in representatives during the public auction.
“They sent feelers that they wanted to catch up, but we could not delay the proceedings because we wanted to be very transparent. We do not want people to think that we are giving special attention to other people so we had to stick with the timelines,” Bendijo said.
The BOC put nine other luxury cars on the auction block, but the bids failed. These were a Lincoln Navigator 2024, two GMC Yukon Denalis 2022, a Cadillac Escalade 2021, a Maserati Levante Modena 2022, a Cadillac Escalade ESV 2022, a Bentley Bentayga 2022, a 2017 Blue Bugatti Chiron, and a 2019 Red Bugatti Chiron.
Seven of these vehicles were also seized from the Discaya couple who are currently under investigation for alleged complicity in the massive flood control corruption.
Bendijo said the BOC might cut down the prices for the remaining vehicles up for auction set on Feb. 25.
BOC however, was also considering accepting direct offers for the Bentley and the Bugatti Chiron due to repeated failed biddings.
This means interested buyers could set their own price offers.
“If it’s a direct offer, obviously, we cannot control the floor price anymore, and we do not want to accept offers that are disadvantageous. So it’s a balance between high revenue versus the ability to sell it,” Bendijo said.
“The purpose here is to convert all forfeited items to revenue, to realize them, instead of destroying them because our country needs the funds,” he said. With Vito Barcelo
