P200M illicit cigarettes seized in QC, Caloocan warehouses

Some P200 million worth of illicit cigarettes were seized by authorities in two different raids in Grace Park West, Caloocan City and Balingasa, Quezon City on Thursday night. 

Joint forces from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Philippine National Police confiscated around 1.3 million cigarette packs—some carrying fake tax stamps and others with no stamps at all. 

BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said they have yet to trace the source of the contraband cigarettes.

“Hindi natin masabi kung iisa ang may-ari pero tutuntunin din namin. Titingnan din natin kung sino talaga ang may-ari nito para masampahan ng kaukulan na kaso,” Lumagui told reporters. 

(We can’t say yet if the warehouses have only one owner, but we’ll trace them. We’ll look into who owns these so we can file the appropriate cases against them.) 

According to the BIR, the tax liability of the seized contraband cigarettes is pegged at around P1 billion.

But beyond tax liability, Lumagui said these illegal products also have economic consequences on other legitimate cigarette businesses that pay their taxes. 

Lumagui also said the BIR will soon release tax stamps, which consumers can easily verify through their mobile phones. 

2 Filipinos, 1 Chinese nabbed

Three workers in the Balingasa warehouse, including two Filipinos and their alleged Chinese boss, were also arrested. 

The nabbed Filipinos workers said they were tasked to load and unload the boxes of contraband cigarettes from trucks that came in and out of the warehouse. 

Both admitted to being aware that their operations were illegal. 

“Bago po kami kinuha dito, hindi pa po sinabi…Pagpasok po namin, alam na namin na ilegal,” one of them said.

(When they got us, they didn’t tell us. But when we got here, we knew it was illegal.) 

They also alleged that their supposed Chinese boss is the only person among them who knew of the transactions in the warehouse. 

GMA Integrated News sought a comment from the arrested Chinese national, but he said he “can’t understand” much of the questions asked in English. —VAL, GMA Integrated News