P500M worth of fake goods seized after Louis Vuitton complaint
ABOUT P500 million worth of fake luxury goods were confiscated from a warehouse in Manila on July 6 following a complaint filed by the Philippine representative of Louis Vuitton. The Bureau of Customs, in a statement on Tuesday, said the raid was conducted based on “information and complaint from MANLED Legal Consultancy Services, the authorized representative of a luxury retail company globally known as Louis Vuitton.” Apart from products bearing the company’s logo and designs, other goods found had the brands of Lacoste, Gucci, Balenciaga, Kate Spade, Tory Burch, Hermes, Coach, Burberry, Givenchy, Prada, and Calvin Klein, and Marc Jacobs. “Representative samples of the items found are being forwarded to its respective brand owners to verify its authenticity,” the agency said. An inventory of the goods are ongoing to determine the appropriate cases to be filed in relation to the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act and the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.”
Pregnant Filipino worker is Macau’s first COVID case since April
A PREGNANT Filipino worker who returned to Macau is the first coronavirus case in the Chinese special administrative region since April, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported. “Macau PCG (Philippine Consulate General) reports this is the only active COVID (coronavirus disease 2019) case in Macau at present,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Brigido D. Dulay said in a social media post on Tuesday. The worker returned from a vacation in the Philippines. Based on the Worldometer site, the case is Macau’s 46th. Meanwhile, the DFA said in separate statement Tuesday that a total of 190 stranded Filipinos in Hong Kong have come home in separate flights on June 27 and 29. Majority of whom were household service workers whose contracts were ended or terminated. It also included several pregnant women, medical cases, and one with an expired visa. As of July 4, more than 68,400 Filipinos have come home amid the pandemic that has afflicted 11.7 million and killed over 540,000 people worldwide. The DFA has also monitored 8,600 Filipino COVID-19 patients, with 2,900 active cases, 5,200 recoveries, and 577 deaths. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
Probe on for killing of Manila prosecutor
JUSTICE SECRETARY Menardo I. Guevarra has directed state agents to investigate the killing of a prosecutor in Manila on Tuesday. “We are shocked by the audacity of this attack. It highlights once again the grave peril that our prosecutors face each day in the discharge of their duties,” he told reporters via Viber. “I have ordered the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) to immediately step in and investigate this horrible murder,” he added. The victim, Jovencio Senados, chief inquest officer of Manila, was gunned down in his car along Quirino Highway corner Anakbayan in Paco, Manila around 11 a.m. The police report said the suspects were on board a black special utility vehicle. The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers denounced the killing of Mr. Senados saying that whatever the motives and whoever the suspects are, the act “is absolutely unacceptable in a supposed civilized and democratic society.” The group added, “The claims to ‘peace and order’ and purported ‘rule of law’ once again fly in the prevailing culture of violence and climate of impunity engendered by official hate speech and penchant for vindictiveness.” — Vann Marlo M. Villegas
