• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
About P2 million worth of counterfeit cigarettes were seized by the authorities in separate operations in Sagay City, Negros Occidental and in Iloilo City on Saturday.
In Sagay City, Maritime Command police operatives confiscated P900,000 worth of fake cigarettes at the public market in Purok Malipayon, Barangay Makiling.
The operation led to the arrest of two suspects identified as siblings Nasif, 25, and Sadik Amer, 21, both residents of Purok Gardenia, Barangay Balintawak in the neighboring Escalante City.
Their three companions identified only through their aliases “Ben”, “Ricky” and “Panta” managed to escape.
The brothers were caught selling the fake items and yielded 1,462 reams and 162 packs of assorted brands of counterfeit cigarettes valued at P892,385.
The operation was conducted by the Philippine National Police Maritime Command team led by PCapt. Reynaldo Bauden Jr. and assisted by representatives of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, and Sagay City Police Station.
In Iloilo City, the authorities seized P1.1 million worth of fake cigarettes and arrested a local trader for violation of Republic Act (RA) 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.
Armed with a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court 6 Branch 39, agents led by the intelligence unit of the Iloilo City Police Office inspected the house of a 57-year-old businessman in Sitio Kawayanan, Barangay Tabuc Suba, La Paz.
The arrested suspects are facing charges for violation of Sections 155 (infringement), 168 (unfair competition) in relation to 169 (false designation of origin, false description or representation), and 170 (cancellation of design registration) of RA 8293.
The National Tobacco Administration has reported that Visayas is fast catching up to be the region in the Philippines with the highest illegal cigarette incidence at six percent compared to Luzon, eight percent.
Mindanao is the epicenter of the illegal tobacco trade, with an incidence of 45 percent, it added. | GB
