MANILA: Instead of putting up for auction 600,000 impounded car plates, the Bureau of Customs may just donate them to the Land Transportation Office, BOC Commissioner Alberto Lina said yesterday.
The plates were confiscated after the consignee – the joint venture of Knieriem BV Goes and Power Plates Development Concept – failed to pay the estimated P40 million in duties and taxes.
Lina said he is abandoning the idea of auctioning the vehicle license plates because these might “land in someone else’s hands and used in some other ways.”
“The car plates belong to the government. As a commissioner, I would have to protect the interest of the country,” Lina stressed, adding that he is not discounting the possibility that the plates could be used for criminal activities like car smuggling.
As for the unpaid P40 million, the Customs chief said this could be waived if the goods will go to another government agency.
However, he clarified that this could only be done if Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima would agree.
Belle Maestro, Lina’s spokesperson, said lawyers of the Department of Finance are now studying how to proceed with the donation.
