DOF orders tighter crackdown vs fake cigarettes

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Finance (DOF) has ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to strengthen the crackdown on cigarette counterfeiters, including the entry of unlicensed cigarette-making machines in the country.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez has directed both bureaus to track down manufacturers of counterfeit tobacco products and their possible cohorts in government.

Dominguez also told the BIR and the BOC to find out how the machines used to manufacture fake cigarettes were able to enter the country undetected by authorities.

The finance chief said the BOC should find out which country the machines originated from and how the units were allowed for export when these were most probably classified as controlled items.

“I want the BIR and the BOC to hit the counterfeiters with everything they’ve got. I want them to get to the bottom of this,” Dominguez told officials of both bureaus during a recent executive committee meeting.

Dominguez issued the directive after the BOC reported that it has seized counterfeit cigarettes and bogus tax stamps worth P500 million in three warehouses in Bulacan.

The BIR also reported that its strike team had raided several warehouses storing smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes in Malabon and Manila. The raids yielded a total of 531 mastercases of fake and smuggled cigarettes bearing various brands.

The BIR strike team also confiscated four unlicensed cigarette making machines, six cigarette-packing machines and a filter-making machine along with fake cigarette tax stamps inside the San Simon Industrial Park in Pampanga. The bureau reported to the finance chief that the machines were smuggled into the country.

Operations in two factories in Cagayan de Oro, meanwhile, yielded unregistered cigarette making machines, packaging machines and a filter making machine.

“You better trace where these machines came from. Who are the people behind this? How did these machines get in.” Dominguez told the BIR and the BOC.

Customs Deputy Commissioner Edward James Dy Buco said the customs bureau would investigate the entry of the unregistered cigarette-making machines.