DESTROYED. Various cigarette-making machines, along with boxes of tobacco products, are destroyed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in Barangay Bayabas, Cagayan de Oro City, on Thursday (Aug. 22). The BIR said the destroyed equipment and counterfeit products are estimated to be worth more than a billion pesos. (Photo by Jigger J. Jerusalem)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Cigarette-making machines and various counterfeit cigarettes estimated to be worth more than a billion pesos were destroyed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) here Thursday.
BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said the destruction of equipment and cigarettes was a message to those who are engaging in illicit activities that the government will not hesitate to make necessary arrests and confiscations.
“We want to send the message to our taxpayers who are not registering with the BIR that they are doing this illicit manufacturing of cigarettes," Guballa said.
"The government is really bent on running against these illegal activities of people who are manufacturing cigarettes without paying the excise tax,” he added.
Guballa said it was the first time that the destruction of the equipment and cigarettes was conducted in Mindanao, where boxes of cigarettes were shredded while the various cigarette-making equipment were smashed using a heavy-duty jackhammer.
BIR Strike Team chief Remedios Advincula said the tobacco products were estimated to be worth more than a billion pesos, and machines’ total worth was pegged at PHP120 million.
Nuzar Balatero, BIR director for Northern Mindanao, said the destroyed products and equipment were confiscated in three separate raids at various locations on May 26, 2018.
The cigarette factories were located at the Alwana Business Park in Barangay Cugman and in Barangay Poblacion, Villanueva town, Misamis Oriental.
“The destruction of these machinery is mandated by law to ensure that these devices can never be used in pursuing illegal manufacturing of cigarettes,” Balatero said.
Advincula said various charges for violation of tax law, particularly unlawful possession of fake stamps, were already filed before the Department of Justice against the people behind the production of counterfeit tobacco products.
He was unable to name the respondents, only saying that foreign nationals, as well as Filipinos, are involved. (PNA)
