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December 5, 2025 | 12:57pm
Finance Secretary Frederick Go and ICI chairman Andres Reyes Jr. inspect luxury vehicles seized from the Discayas and put up for public auction at the BOC- South Harbor. They were joined by Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno and LTO chief Markus Lacanilao during the ceremonial ringing of the bell to officially mark the start of bidding.
The Philippine STAR / Edd Gumban
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs sold two more luxury vehicles seized from super contractors Curlee and Sarah Discaya in its second public auction, generating an additional P9.5 million from assets tied to the flood control corruption case for the national treasury.
The public bidding was held on Friday, December 5, following the first auction in November, which yielded four failed bids from the seven luxury vehicles found to be lacking import entry records and documents proving that duties and taxes had been properly paid.
Only the Toyota Tundra (2022) and Toyota Sequoia (2023) were bid out, leaving the more expensive cars such as the Rolls-Royce Cullinan (2023) and Bentley Bentayga (2022) potentially up for direct offers or condemnation.
The Toyota Sequoia was sold to businessman Jose Maria Esteban III for P6 million, exceeding its floor price of P4,669,554.50. Meanwhile, the Toyota Tundra fetched P3.48 million from RMCE Metal Products Trading Corp., slightly above its floor price of P3,473,253.97.
The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is the most expensive luxury car that made rounds on social media for its built-in umbrella. It had a lower floor price of P36.28 million during the second auction, but was originally priced at P45.31 million.
The Bentley Bentayga, on the other hand, had a floor price of P13.87 million, but was still not enough to attract any bidders.
With P38.21 million raised from the first three Discaya luxury cars, the second sale brings the total funds generated to P47.7 million. The initial cars sold were a Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG, a Mercedes-Benz G500, and a Lincoln Navigator L.
The BOC explained on Monday that while destroying the two remaining cars is an option, the agency prefers to convert them into revenue, given the corruption issues and the need to return funds from substandard and ghost infrastructure projects to the public coffers.
Customs officials are also still reviewing the import and tax documents for six other luxury vehicles of the Discayas, which may be put up for auction should they discover any irregularities.
The BOC has already begun its investigation into the luxury cars of 28 other construction firms for alleged tax evasion and illegal importation.
