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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider PNP to hold info drive to discourage sari-sari store owners form selling smuggled cigarettes

PNP to hold info drive to discourage sari-sari store owners form selling smuggled cigarettes

Published Feb 22, 2026 11:53 am
Acting PNP chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez leads the inspection of abandoned container vans in Batangas City which later yielded around P1.1 billion worth of smuggled tobacco products. (photo: PNP)
Acting PNP chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez leads the inspection of abandoned container vans in Batangas City which later yielded around P1.1 billion worth of smuggled tobacco products. (photo: PNP)
The Philippine National Police (PNP) will be conducting a massive information drive to discourage retailers, especially sari-sari store owners, from selling smuggled and illegally-manufactured cigarettes as part of strategy to cut the supply network of smuggling syndicates.
PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez, Jr. said he already tasked the chiefs of police to coordinate with local government units (LGUs) down to the barangay level educate sari-sari store owners about the operation of the smuggling syndicates.
He said the information drive will serve as a reminder to the sari-sari store owners that they are in effect supporting the supply network of syndicates once they put the smuggled cigarettes on their shelves. 
“We have to make sari-sari store owners fully understand that they are becoming enablers of smuggling and illegal manufacture of the cigarettes the moment they agree to sell them to their customers, and there are legal consequences in doing that,” said Nartatez. 
The information drive includes identification of the brands of the smuggled and illegally-manufactured cigarettes.
The order to conduct the information drive came after Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jonvic Remulla warned that authorities would begin raids in public markets and small-time retailers as part of the government’s efforts to dismantle the supply chain of illegal cigarettes.
Remulla was reported to have given sari-sari store owners one week to dispose of their products and stop their illegal distribution.
Nartatez said the information drive will be of big help in educating sari-sari store owners about the consequences of selling smuggled items, saying some of them may not be aware that what they are selling are smuggled and illegally-manufactured.
Remulla earlier disclosed that the smuggled cigarettes are sold at very low price to retailers and sari-sari store owners.
The PNP has been leading the operation against smuggled cigarettes, the amount of confiscated items are worth billions of pesos.
The recent accomplishment was the operation in Cebu where more than P138 million worth of smuggled cigarettes were confiscated.
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