A SECOND bid to auction off five smuggled luxury vehicles, valued at about 30 million pesos (RM2.4m), again failed to attract any buyers here.
The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) are now left with the option of destroying the vehicles or donate the items to public offices, the Philstar.com reported.
The five vehicles were a 2008 Ferrari Scuderia 430 priced at 23.23 million pesos, 2001 Porsche Boxster (1.8 million pesos), 2001 Mercedes SLK350 (1.25 million pesos), 2001 Mercedes SLK55 (1.32 million pesos) and 2001 Mercedes E220 (1.49 million pesos).
All were confiscated in operations conducted by the BOC last year, before being listed for auction on Dec 13 and the second attempt on Monday.
The BOC, together with the Bureau of the Treasury and LandBank of the Philippines, organised the auction via social media.
In a report by the Inquirer.net portal, Deputy National Treasurer Erwin Santa Ana said they will "seek the principal's guidance on the next steps".
He was referring to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, whose Department of Finance (DOF) oversees the two agencies and the state-run bank.
When asked if destroying the "hot cars" would no longer be an option, Dominguez said: "Destruction is an option."
In the past, the BOC destroyed confiscated vehicles to show the government was serious in its anti-smuggling campaign.