PHILIPPINES
The Philippines’ Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) started the year by destroying various illegally operated cigarette-making equipment and fake cigarettes in mid-January to show the government’s commitment to fight tobacco smuggling and counterfeiting.
According to the Department of Finance (DOF), the destroyed contraband included three filter maker machines, two packaging machines, a cigarette-making machine, 484 master cases of various cigarette brands, and raw materials such as filter rods, tipping papers, packaging foil, acetate tow, and other supplies.
The equipment and supplies that were destroyed were earlier seized by the BIR in illegally operating cigarette factories in Pampanga and Pangasinan. The machines were bulldozed into pieces, while a grinder destroyed the cigarettes.
Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez said, “The destruction of these confiscated contraband will send a clear two-pronged message: Illicit manufacturing will not be tolerated. Tax evasion will be hounded ceaselessly.”
“By destroying illicit tobacco products, we remove all temptation to sneak them back into the market. By destroying the machines that make them, we raise the risks for doing illicit manufacturing exponentially higher. Both will do the public some good,” he said.