MANILA, 17 August 2007 — In a bid to teach smugglers a lesson, government officials yesterday destroyed 18 luxury vehicles seized earlier and impounded at Subic Bay Freeport, northwest of Manila.

The gleaming luxury cars were reduced to broken glass, twisted metal and tattered leather, crushed by backhoes under the watchful eyes of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves.

The cars were destroyed on orders of 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 presidential aide Cerge Remonde.

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.

Arroyo failed to witness the destruction of the vehicles after her back-up helicopter experienced mechanical trouble, Remonde said.

A 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 ($652,000) destroyed.

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.

Among the excluded cars were a Porsche, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari.

Marietta Zamorano, Customs district collector for Subic, said that the 14 vehi-cles were confiscated by the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) in Quezon City six months ago. She identified the vehicles’ consignee as the Hidemitsu Trading Company. She added that the vehicles were brought to the Customs warehouse for safekeeping.

The government hopes the example will serve as a deterrent to smugglers, Teves said. He said an auction would only allow the smugglers to recover the cars. “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.”

Sen. Manuel Roxas II, meanwhile, urged government agencies to focus on the arrest and prosecution of smugglers.

“I say, crush the smugglers, not just the luxury cars. Publicity stunts such as this will be forgotten in a few days’ time. What would leave a lasting impression are actual arrests of smugglers and their protectors in government,” said Roxas.

PASG chief Antonio Villar also said in an interview that several civic groups such as the Gawad Kalinga, the group that is building homes for the poorest Filipinos, appealed to Arroyo to consider auctioning off the expensive cars and use the proceeds to help the poor. But the group said the auction should be monitored to ensure the cars would not land again in the hands of the smugglers. (With input from Agencies)