Instead of destroying "hot cars" stopped at ports of entry as the Bureau of Customs (BOC) had done in the past, the government will now sell them to raise additional money for its COVID-19 response programs.

For the first auction scheduled on Dec. 13, up for grabs will be five used luxury cars—three Mercedes Benz units, one Porsche and one Ferrari—with a combined floor price of over P29 million.

In a statement on Thursday, the Bureau of the Treasury said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III ordered the BOC to dispose of smuggled luxury vehicles it had confiscated through public auction.

To make bidding transparent, the BOC, the Treasury and the state-run Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank) on Wednesday agreed to form an interagency auction committee which will oversee disposition of seized luxury cars.

"The BOC's partnership with reputable government agencies and the shift to an open process send a strong signal to the public that this administration is very serious in addressing collusion in the disposal of smuggled goods," their joint press release read.

"Through the added network of the Treasury and Landbank, the notice of auction and other key information on the vehicles will be made available to the wider public, thus enhancing the competitive nature of the process," they said.

The Dec. 13 auction, for instance, will be live-streamed on the official Facebook pages of all three agencies. Bids will be accepted at the Treasury's auction room in its historic Ayuntamiento de Manila office, where T-bills and bonds were also being auctioned off weekly.

The luxury cars put on the auction block were confiscated by the BOC last May and June, and had been issued final and executory forfeiture orders. INQ