Dozens of sports cars and other luxury vehicles worth around £850,000 were destroyed by bulldozers in the Philippines, as part of a drive to fight corruption at the country’s customs bureau.
Their destruction had been ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte, who was on hand to watch Jaguars, BMWs and a Corvette Stingray be crushed at a customs yard in the capital Manila.
The vehicles had been seized by the government after they were smuggled in from abroad, authorities said.
It’s just a scratch: Smuggled luxury cars, including Jaguars and Lexuses, worth approximately £860,000 were destroyed in the Philippines
Sending a message: The destruction or the cars had been ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte in a move to fight corruption
One of the cars destroyed, a blue 2000 Jaguar, had a British number plate. The vehicle had been registered as off the road, and its MOT expired in 2012.
It is likely to have been shipped to the Philippines.
President Duterte watched as the second-hand vehicles, some valued as high as £82,700 were reduced to piles of scrap in a little over three minutes.
‘Give it to the buyer of steel,’ Duterte said, recalling his instruction to officials.
‘They cannot have cars like that. But they can get something, make toys out of it.’
The Philippines Bureau of Customs seized £2.11million worth of smuggled vehicles last year, part of the £623million in seized goods, government data showed.
‘It does not pay to evade taxes in the Philippines so might as well stop trying, because you will never succeed,’ Duterte’s finance minister, Carlos Dominguez, told reporters before letting diggers loose on 20 slick-looking vehicles at a Manila port.
One of the cars destroyed, a Jaguar, had a British number plate, but it had long been registered off the road, its MOT expiring in March 2012
Crushed: A bulldozer flattens a Corvette Stingray during the ceremony
One way to celebrate: The cars were destroyed in a condemnation ceremony as part of the 116th anniversary celebration of the Bureau of Customs in Manila
Inspection: President Duterte was there to survey the destruction in Manila on Tuesday
A further ten were simultaneously destroyed in ports in the southern cities of Davao and Cebu, with all vehicles scrapped reportedly worth a combined 61.6 million pesos (£859,320).
The president has made fighting corruption and illegal drugs the cornerstones of his six-year term.
‘Reduce them to scrap metal,’ Duterte said in a speech to customs employees after the event.
Normally, seized smuggled vehicles are impounded and then auctioned with the government taking the proceeds.
‘I will pay for them, no problem,’ Duterte said.
Didn’t stand a chance: The bulldozer crushes the fleet of luxury cars
Aftermath: Bureau of Customs officials inspect the destroyed smuggled luxury cars
The Bureau of Customs collects duties on imports and is one of the state’s key revenue-generating agencies. It consistently tops independent surveys as one of the country’s most corrupt government agencies.
Customs commissioner Isidro Lapena said in a speech at the ceremony that he has reassigned 691 of his some 7,000 employees since he took office in August last year.
Two other employees were dismissed and 16 others have been suspended over alleged illegal activity, he added.
Duterte, known for his bloody war on drugs and disdain for criminals, has promised to usher in a ‘golden age of infrastructure’ over six years, worth $180 billion. He has launched a comprehensive tax reform programme to help fund it.