Mandaue to auction unclaimed impounded vehicles

Mandaue City Presidencia (City Hall) | CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa

MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – The vehicles that have been impounded in Mandaue City for a long time will be auctioned off if not redeemed.

The city, however, will give an amnesty to help owners claim their vehicles.

Due to a large number of impounded and unclaimed vehicles, space in the impounding area in the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) has reached its full capacity.

With this, City Councilor Jimmy Lumapas, chairman of the committee on transportation, authored an ordinance granting amnesty to the owners of the vehicles.

The ordinance was passed by the city council on the first reading last Wednesday, February 24.

In the ordinance, impounded vehicles from 2015 to 2017 will be given a 30 percent discount on storage fees, a 20 percent discount on impounded vehicles from 2018 to 2019, and a 50 percent amnesty on those impounded last year. It was explained that last year’s impounded vehicles were given a bigger discount due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Lumapas clarified that the discount is only for the storage fee because some fines and traffic violations still need to be paid.

The availment of the grant will only be valid for 30 days after the reenactment of the ordinance the date of which will be determined by the TEAM office.

If an owner fails to claim his vehicle it will be subjected to a public auction and some will be donated to the barangays and government offices under the city for appropriate usage under the city’s Public Towing and Impounding Ordinance of 2020. /rcg