November 21, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Seven luxury vehicles found parked at a gas station along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) in Marilao, Bulacan were seized by authorities after they were found to have no license plates or were carrying improvised ones, the Highway Patrol Group said yesterday.
HPG spokesman Lt. Nadame Malang said the operation, conducted with the Land Transportation Office and led by LTO chief Markus Lacanilao, was launched on Nov. 17 following a tip from a concerned citizen.
“Our operatives validated that the report was true – these seven luxury cars had improvised plates, and some had no plates at all,” Malang told reporters.
The vehicles – a Ferrari sports car, two Nissan GTRs, a Toyota Supra, a Toyota FJ Cruiser, a Toyota Land Cruiser and a BMW – were also later found to be unregistered. The LTO has taken custody of all seven units while their records are being verified further.
Malang said investigators are also looking into whether the vehicles are among the luxury cars reportedly linked to the Discaya family, whose alleged tax and customs violations are under review by multiple agencies.
He said the HPG has received reports that luxury cars tied to the family are being moved and disposed of in various parts of the country.
“Nationwide, we are monitoring information that these luxury cars are being dispatched. We are checking whether taxes were paid and whether these passed Customs,” he said.
The seized cars were found parked at the gas station for about one to two hours, unusually long for what their drivers claimed was just a group gathering, Malang said.
“That is one angle we are considering, whether there was a transaction, possibly a sale,” he said.
All seven drivers, aged 26 to 46, were issued violation tickets, including for reckless driving, as operating unregistered vehicles is a punishable offense under Republic Act 4136.
The HPG has reportedly validated at least 12 luxury cars from a previous inspection of the Discaya residence, while an estimated 30 to 40 more vehicles remain under verification with Customs and other agencies.
Last Monday’s operation came days after a separate anti-colorum campaign in Southern Luzon, where the HPG and LTO confiscated three unregistered commuter vans plying routes from Turbina to Calamba, Batangas and Tagaytay. The drivers were fined between P200,000 and P10 million.
3 cars sold for 38 million
Meanwhile, only three of the seven luxury cars of the Discayas offered at an auction by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) have been sold, earning P38 million for the government. The target proceeds from the sale of the seven vehicles stand at P103 million.
Simplex Industrial Corp. placed the highest bids for two of the cars – black matte Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG (2022) sold for P15,611,710 and red Mercedes-Benz G500 (2019) Brabus (15.5 million). Lesentrell Jewelries acquired the Lincoln Navigator for P7.1 million. Simplex issued manager’s checks for its acqusitions, while Lesentrell paid in cash.
Deputy chief of staff of the Office of the Commissioner Chris Bendijo said in an interview over dzBB the auction took a longer time because they had to count the P7 million paid in cash placed inside a backpack.
Ladislao Matawa, who represented Lesentrell at the auction, said that they joined the auction because of the “history” of the luxury vehicles. The owner intends to use the Lincoln Navigator but might later sell for a higher price.
The Mercedes-Benz G500 Brabus bagged by Simplex attracted five bidders.
The floor price was P7,843,239.43 but Simplex, a leading distributor of rubber sealing products, paid almost twice the price with P15,500,00.
There were no bidders for the four other Discaya cars – black Rolls Royce Cullinan (2023), blue Bentley Bentaya (2022), orange Toyota Sequoia (2023) and red Toyota Tundra (2022).
Bendijo said their public auction committee would reconvene to recompute the floor price for the four unsold vehicles. – Rainier Allan Ronda, Alexis Romero