MANILA, Philippines — Actor and businessman Derek Ramsay is pushing back against questions surrounding his ultra-rare Porsche 918 Spyder, insisting he did not smuggle the multimillion-peso hypercar into the Philippines and saying he purchased it locally with money he earned himself.
Ramsay’s clarification adds a new layer to the controversy surrounding the Porsche, which has already drawn scrutiny from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) after authorities found that a plate displayed on the vehicle allegedly did not match the number in official registration records.
According to Ramsay, he bought the Porsche about four years ago from John Lee Hagoriles of JWorks, a long-established name in the Philippine automotive customization and detailing scene.
“I am not a smuggler, nor did I import this vehicle into the country,” Ramsay said, according to reports published on August 22. He maintained that he has never personally imported a vehicle into the Philippines.
Ramsay said the Porsche was purchased using his own earnings and that he understood from the seller that the vehicle had already entered the country with the necessary taxes settled.
That point could become crucial as scrutiny shifts beyond the much-publicized license-plate issue and toward the car’s history before Ramsay acquired it.
Ramsay says he bought the Porsche locally
Ramsay’s position is straightforward: he says he was the buyer, not the importer.
He identified Hagoriles as the person from whom he acquired the Porsche and said the transaction was presented to him as involving a vehicle whose taxes had already been paid.
Public records and automotive-industry reports confirm that John Lee Hagoriles has long been associated with JWorks. An Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines publication lists Hagoriles as operating “J Works Auto Care Specialis,” while Philippine automotive publications documented his involvement with JWorks Unlimited as far back as the 2010 and 2011 Trans Sport Shows.
However, Ramsay’s statement that the Porsche was already fully tax-paid when he bought it remains his account of the transaction based on currently available public reporting. No publicly released Bureau of Customs documentation cited in the reports reviewed independently establishes the vehicle’s complete import-tax history.
That distinction matters: buying a vehicle already inside the country is not the same thing as personally importing it, but investigators can still examine whether the car complied with customs, registration and tax requirements before and after ownership changed hands.
The controversy began with an alleged fake plate
The latest questions come after the LTO investigated Ramsay’s Porsche 918 Spyder over an allegedly unauthorized license plate.
The agency said it verified that the alphanumeric combination displayed on the Porsche differed from the plate officially assigned to the vehicle.
Ramsay has repeatedly denied personally driving vehicles with fake plates.
“All my vehicles have proper plates,” he said in an earlier Instagram statement, while also stressing that the use of fake license plates is wrong and should not be tolerated.
The issue became more complicated because businessman Anthony Jude “AJ” Violago was identified in subsequent reports as the person driving the Porsche when it carried the questioned plate.
PEP reported that Ramsay and Violago later appeared before the LTO, while the Porsche was voluntarily surrendered as the agency continued its investigation.
LTO chief Markus Lacanilao said authorities were looking into how the questioned plate ended up on the Porsche and stressed that government-issued plates cannot simply be replaced with privately produced versions that imitate official plates.
LTO: No VIP treatment
From the beginning, the LTO has emphasized that the value of the vehicle or the status of its owner will not exempt anyone from traffic and registration laws.
“There are no VIPs when it comes to law enforcement,” Lacanilao said when the controversy first emerged.
The Porsche was placed under alarm status during the initial investigation, and authorities ordered the owner and driver to explain why administrative penalties should not be imposed.
Ramsay subsequently said he would cooperate with investigators and voluntarily appeared before the agency ahead of the initially reported hearing schedule.
Why the Porsche 918 Spyder attracts so much attention
The controversy is magnified by the car itself.
The Porsche 918 Spyder is not an ordinary luxury sports car. It is a limited-production plug-in hybrid hypercar and one of Porsche’s most celebrated modern models.
Only a relatively small number were produced worldwide, making legitimate examples highly sought after among collectors.
That rarity means the ownership, importation and registration history of any 918 Spyder appearing in the Philippines will naturally attract attention—not only from car enthusiasts but also from regulators if questions arise over its documentation.
For Ramsay, however, the central argument is that the public should separate two issues: who originally brought the Porsche into the Philippines and who later bought and registered it.
His statement effectively challenges the assumption that being the registered owner automatically means he was responsible for importing the vehicle.
The bigger unanswered question
The controversy therefore no longer revolves solely around an alleged fake plate.
The more consequential issue may now be the Porsche’s documentary trail: Who originally imported it, what duties and taxes were paid when it entered the Philippines, and what documents accompanied the car when ownership eventually passed to Ramsay?
Ramsay has already given his version: he bought the vehicle locally, paid for it with his own money, and understood it to be tax-paid.
Whether government records fully support that account could ultimately determine where the controversy goes next.
Until customs or other competent authorities release documentary findings, claims involving smuggling or unpaid import taxes should not be presented as established fact.
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