Car import woes: Ferraris as hearses

THIS imported Mercedes Benz may well end up as a hearse as used-car importers in Port Irene in Santa Ana, Cagayan province, deal with an order that stops the registration of these cars but allows their use for “special purposes.” RICHARD BALONGLONG / INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

SANTA ANA, Cagayan—How will people feel about a Lamborghini luxury sports car serving as a police patrol or a Hummer sport utility vehicle as a hearse?

That’s likely to happen after the government allowed the release of imported vans and cars from the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP) here so they could be converted into hearses, police cars or ambulances.

The state-sanctioned conversion is seen as a way to skirt a government ban on the importation of secondhand cars and vans that has prevented car importers from registering and selling them.

Julian Jovy Gonzales, CSEZFP officer in charge, said the proposal to convert the vehicles was the last option for used-car traders, who face massive losses for failing to sell the estimated 900 units they imported in 2013.

The importers agreed to this proposal “rather than allow these [vehicles] go to waste,” Gonzales said.

According to him, classifying these vehicles into “special purpose vehicles” would exempt them from Executive Order No. 156, which prohibits the importation of secondhand vehicles.

EO 156 was cited as the basis for the issuance of an order issued in December 2013 by then Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla that stopped the importation of the vehicles.

The reclassified vehicles are being released from the free port, according to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

The imported vans and compact hatchbacks are what remain of three batches of secondhand vehicles that arrived at Port Irene from Japan and South Korea in late 2013 and early 2014.

Since their arrival, however, these vehicles, mostly Hyundai Starex vans, and Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi cars, have been parked at a 5-hectare yard in Casambalangan village here for three years.

Many vehicles have been worn out by the elements, while about 60 luxury vehicles are being kept inside a tightly guarded warehouse at Port Irene, among them Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches and Hummers.

Arienito Claveria, officer in charge of the BOC collection district based in Aparri town in Cagayan province, said about 20 vehicles had so far been converted into ambulances and released through Jaime Escaño, president of Fenix (Ceza) International, a used-car importer.

“But the conversion must clearly show that these vehicles are to be used for special purposes,” he said.

For example, vehicles to be used as ambulances need to be equipped with first aid kits and other life-saving accessories.

The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza) has been using a number of unregistered Starex vans as service vehicles, Claveria said, adding that this was allowed “for as long as they will be used only within the free port.”

“But once they are brought out, we can seize them,” he said.

Last year, used-car importers at CSEZFP asked Customs Commissioner Bert Lina to allow the processing of the vehicles.