Cigarette firm offers to open warehouses

SAN SIMON, Pampanga –A cigarette manufacturer whose warehouses in the San Simon Industrial Park here yielded close to P2 billion worth of alleged fake cigarettes during a raid last Wednesday denied that the items seized were fake.

Mighty Corp. said it was ready to cooperate with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and open all its warehouses to show that the cigarettes that were earlier seized were not fake.

“The company reiterates its long- standing position that it is not in the business of producing fake cigarette products as its own local brands are well accepted by its customers,” said Oscar Barrientos, Mighty Corp. executive vice president and spokesman.

The raid on four warehouses at the industrial park was on the strength of a Letter of Authority issued by Customs

Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.

Barrientos, however, assailed the use by other government agencies of BOC mission orders to pursue schemes of its competitors to seize its products using a false pretext that fake cigarettes are stored in its warehouses because of the company’s efforts to alleviate the plight of local tobacco farmers through amendatory legislation.

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) director for Central Luzon Jethro Sabariaga said his agency has taken jurisdiction over the case, including the padlocking of the warehouses initially done by agents of the BOC.

The BIR also seized 41 cases of cigarettes with the Marvel brand for testing.

It said most of the cigarette boxes remain in the warehouses.

Barrientos insisted, however, that the raiding team did not find any fake products of its competitors.

“That should have aborted the activity. But other government regulators without appropriate mission orders or directives from its head offices had used the raid to assert offenses by Mighty not covered by the BOC orders.”

“Mighty had reiterated its plea that the BOC keep vigilant to avert smuggling and ensure collection of duties and taxes as it does not produce fake products and had done nothing to violate any of its regulations or of the Tariff and Customs Code,” he said.

Sabariaga said Mighty Corp. lawyers and representatives met with BIR officials Wednesday night to admit ownership of the seized items.

He said, however, that the cigarettes would remain under the jurisdiction of the BIR for seven days before they are turned over to the Large Taxpayer Service and the BIR Commissioner’s office.

“If the (tax) stamps on the cigarette packs are found to be fake and excise taxes were unpaid, there will be criminal liability for the owner,“Sabariaga said.

The BIR said that the warehouses have 45 million boxes of cigarettes with an estimated excise tax value of P1.2 billion.

BOC personnel said that after last Wednesday’s raids, some of the cigarette packs were found to have fake tax stamps. –