Crushing used cars to take 3 more months

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—It will take until August for more than 800 high-end vehicles smuggled through the Cagayan Economic Zone and Freeport to be destroyed, the free port’s administrator told a business forum here last week.

Raul Lambino, administrator and chief executive officer of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza), said the ceremonial destruction of 14 impounded vehicles on March 18 at Port Irene, which President Rodrigo Duterte witnessed, “was just for starters.”

“I still have 800 plus vehicles to crush in the next three months and I am not going to be deterred by threats of lawsuits from some of these unscrupulous businessmen, some of whom hold powerful positions in government,” Lambino said when he addressed members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently. He did not name them.

The used luxury vehicles were shipped to Port Irene in 2013 and 2014 but were impounded due to irregularities.

Quoting the President, Lambino said crushing the imported vehicles “signifies our resolve to restore good governance, preserves our nation’s dignity and safeguards our people’s welfare.” —Tonette Orejas