18 Highly Expensive Cars Crushed in Subic and Sold for 10 pesos per Kilo

August, 16, 2007. Subic, Philippines. 18 Luxury Cars claimed by Customs officials as smuggled vehicles were crushed into scrap metal to give smugglers a lesson. According to Inquirer.net , Vehicles being crushed are , Lincoln Navigator, three BMW X5s, a Chevrolet Camper and a Mitsubishi GTO sports car were among the vehicles worth a total of P30 million pesos (US$652,000) crushed by backhoes in the Subic Bay Freeport as Finance Secretary Margarito Teves and customs officials watched. The cars were smashed on orders from our President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo "to send a message and also because it's common knowledge that if we auction them, the smugglers also win so it defeats the purpose," said Arroyo's aide, Cerge Remonde.

However Arroyo , who was scheduled to fly to Subic, failed to witness the crushing of the vehicles after her back-up helicopter experienced mechanical trouble.The government hopes the example will serve as a deterrent to smugglers, Teves said.
"It's morally justifiable because (smuggling is) harming the state, it's harming our industry, it doesn't generate potential employment for our people," he said.
He appealed to everyone to "pay your taxes to help the country because we need the revenues to provide our people services and infrastructure."
Teves said the 18 smuggled vehicles alone cost the government P10 million (US$217,000) in lost taxes.

Fourteen other cars -- including a Porsche, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari -- that were supposed to be destroyed also Thursday were not crushed because their importers sought court action, Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group chief Antonio Villar said in an interview over government station Radyo ng Bayan.

Villar said several civic groups such as the Gawad Kalinga also appealed to the President to consider auctioning off the expensive cars and use the proceeds to help the poor.
But the group said the auction should be monitored by the government to ensure the cars would not land again in the hands of the smugglers.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said the 18 destroyed cars were smuggled into Subic in 2002 but were not claimed by their owners, perhaps for fear of being in trouble with the law. The 14 other cars have claimants who are contesting their forfeiture in court, he said.
Earlier this month, Arroyo vowed to step up anti-smuggling efforts after revenue collections fell short of the target for the first half of the year and local industries complained about rampant smuggling. (Inquirer.net)

Smashing these cars like tin cans seems to be a very stupid idea. However, our government has their own valid reasons for these actions. We all know many Filipinos are Homeless and suffering poverty for decades. If only these cars were auctioned and all the money will be given to the people directly it would be a great help.