Authorities raid another factory that makes fake Mighty cigarettes
By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Senior Reporter
AUTHORITIES raided another factory in Bulacan that made counterfeit cigarettes carrying the Mighty brand, the country’s Finance chief said.
Government operatives conducted a raid at RIS Compound in Barangay Tabe, where they discovered a factory of counterfeit cigarette packs at the back end of the site, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told reporters late Thursday.
The raid was conducted by members of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Business Permit and License Office of the Guiguinto local government.
Fake cigarette cases — some of them carrying the Mighty brand — were seized in the factory, which is said to be owned by an Edward Ang.
Company executives of cigarette producers PMFTC Inc. Company representatives went on site to certify to the police that the cigarettes are counterfeit and that the facility “is not an authorized factory,” Mr. Dominguez said.
The Cabinet official noted that this is the second illegal factory of cigarettes in Bulacan discovered in the past four months. In November, authorities found out a factory of fake cigarettes located inside the Meycauayan Industrial Park which was razed by fire.
Manos Koukourakis, general manager of JTI Philippines, said separately that they commend the raid of the secret factory and committed to “step up support” in the government’s crackdown on illicit trade and counterfeiting.
JTI acquired embattled cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp. last year as the Bulacan-based firm faced tax evasion charges worth P37.88 billion. Mighty paid a P25-billion settlement to the government, which covered P3.5 billion in unpaid excise taxes and P21.5 billion worth of internal revenue taxes of the company and its shareholders.
The Japanese firm bought Mighty’s assets at a deal priced at $496 million or around P46.8 billion.
Starting January, the Bureau of Internal Revenue will require all cigarette firms to adopt updated Internal Revenue stamps that bear tightened security features, as stated in Revenue Regulation No. 6-2017.
