The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s estimated value of the fake tax stamps seized at a warehouse in Barangay Tangub, Bacolod City, increased to P750 million on Wednesday, May 5.
BIR Region 12 Director Antonio Jonathan Jaminola said they seized 30 packs estimated to contain 500,000 fake stamps each, fake cigarettes and materials for their manufacture from the warehouse on Tuesday.
The estimated value of the fake stamps increased to P750 million because they now cost P50 each, he said.
The initial estimate of more than P500 million was based on the previous stamp rate of P37.50 each, he said.
The cost of the stamp attached to each cigarette pack represents the excise tax paid to the government, Jaminola explained.
The BIR swooped down on the warehouse based on a confidential tip that fake cigarettes were being manufactured there, but no one was present at the site, Jaminola said.
They do not have an estimate yet on the value of the seized fake cigarettes and raw materials for their manufacture, he said.
“We have not yet concluded our inventory of the seized materials,” he said.
Jaminola said multiple charges will be filed against the owner of the seized fake items.
The culprits will face charges for the illegal manufacture of fake stamps and cigarettes, and tax evasion among several other charges, he said.
However, they are still trying to determine who the owner of the warehouse and the seized materials found in it is, he said.
Jaminola said they suspect that the raw materials that they seized were being delivered to a factory elsewhere in the province that manufactures the fake cigarettes.
They are waiting for an intelligence report to enable them to track down the manufacturing site, he said.*