P2-B cigarettes with fake stamps seized in raids

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Customs (BOC) agents seized yesterday morning P2 billion worth of fake cigarettes in five warehouses at the San Simon Industrial Park in Pampanga.

A source from the BOC, who asked not to be identified pending completion of a final report on the raid, said the fake Mighty and Marvel brand cigarettes were already packed in boxes.

The cigarettes also had fake stamps and were all identical, the source said.

The warehouses were located in different blocks within the industrial park.

He could not immediately reveal the identities of the warehouse owners and whether anyone was arrested in the raids.

Original Mighty cigarettes are manufactured by Mighty Corp., founded in Manila in 1945, while the Marvel brand, although originally from the US, is also made in the Philippines.

In November last year, similar raids were conducted by the BOC in Pampanga, Bulacan and Pangasinan where some P1 billion worth of fake cigarettes of known brands and manufacturing equipment were also seized.

Agents of the BOC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) also conducted another raid yesterday morning on a warehouse of Mighty Corp. in General Santos City and seized cigarettes with fake tax stamps.

Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon ordered the composite team led by Christopher Degano to raid the Mighty Corp. warehouse inside the compound of Sunshine Cornmill Corp. at  Arradaza St., Barangay Lagao, General Santos City.

“We cannot give you yet the details of this operation as we are given permission by the higher ups … but surely we are in GenSan now to enforce this mission order given to us by commissioner Faeldon,” said BOC investigator Irumina Alvaira.

Customs police commander Zaidona Maulana told The STAR that they had padlocked the warehouse with the cigarettes after they found the firm’s alleged use of fake tax stamps on their cigarettes.

“After our inventory in the few days, they will be possibly charged by the BIR for not paying their sales tax,” Maula said.

Capt. Chris Degano, of the BOC’s Special Studies and Project Development Committee (SSPDC), said that based on the computation of the BIR personnel from the Region XII office, the total unpaid taxes reached P165 million.

Degano said Faeldon signed both the Mission Order and the Letter of Authority for the raid yesterday on Mighty Corp.’s sales office in General Santos City. 

Faeldon created last Aug. 10 the SSPDC and the BOC Command Center to stop suspected anomalous transactions in the bureau. –With Ric Sapnu, John Paul Jubelag