Some police officers using impounded vehicles (Part 1)

(CNN Philippines) — What may look like a junkyard is actually the impounding area inside the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame, where you can see vehicles in bad shape, with tires missing, metal parts corroded.

The Anti-Carnapping Unit of the Quezon City Police District is responsible for securing this place, according to Supt. Ferdinand Villanueva, who heads the unit.

Not too far off the impounding area, at the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, officials tell CNN Philippines that they’d had instances of stolen stereos, mag wheels, tires and even upholstery at their impounding area.

By law, recovered vehicles left unclaimed by their owners for up to 90 days will be classified as abandoned and may be sold at a public auction.

Most, if not all, of these vehicles are kept as evidence in criminal cases, which may take years, even decades to resolve.

But as the cases drag on, some cars are, in a way, put to good use — for official police functions, and even for personal purposes.

Others are exposed to looters and the weather.

Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who was once PNP chief, said preventing unauthorized use of the impounded vehicles would be up to PNP officials. If they’re lax, it would be easy for any police officer to use even stolen vehicles in the impounding area.

During his term as PNP chief, he said he stopped the questionable practice. He ordered anyone using impounded vehicles to return them. He gave them two weeks, during which time they could do so either personally or incognito.

“We were literally recovering vehicles at the flyover near Crame,” Lacson said.

The PNP then released over 260 vehicles, all of those with original chassis numbers, and returned to their rightful owners.

In 2012, Senior Supt. Jaime Macarilay, chief of the Caraga Regional Highway Patrol Unit, was removed from his post after media reported that he and several policemen were using stolen vehicles.

Macarilay retired in 2014 without facing administrative charges.

On July 15, 2013, convicted bank robbers Ricky Cadavero and Wilfredo Panogalinga were ambushed and killed on the way to the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.

Investigation showed a van being used by the Calabarzon Police Regional Office was a stolen vehicle.

CNN Philippines learned that the recommended penalties against erring personnel were submitted to the Office of the PNP Director more than a year after the incident — in September 2014.

There has been no word on the matter from headquarters to this day.

According to PNP rules, these irregular acts are punishable by demotion and dismissal from service.

CNN Philippines found an online inventory of recovered vehicles impounded at the Regional Highway Patrol Unit of Calabarzon.

A visit at Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba, Laguna showed that nine of the 12 vehicles supposedly secured in the compound have been returned to their owners.

But no one could locate three vehicles — a Honda Civic, a Toyota Tamaraw FX, and a Toyota Innova — that are all listed online as impounded.

There are also some vehicles, including a Nissan Cefiro and Honda CRV, that are in the impounding area but are not in the online list of recovered vehicles.

One silver Toyota Fortuner, protected by a tent, is parked inside the compound of the Highway Patrol Group.

A phone call check with the Land Transportation Office revealed that there are no records of the SUV plate number — VDT 256.

Chief Supt. Generoso Cerbo, former PNP spokesman who is now chief of the Directorate for Intelligence, said that matter is already under investigation.

“If the LTO says no record, then there’s really a red flag,” he said.

The officer involved would have to be investigated.

The headquarters of the Highway Patrol Group in Camp Crame gave CNN Philippines a list of all impounded vehicles nationwide. But there was no entry from the Calabarzon unit.

The reason given, plain and simple — failure to submit.