Businesses and industry leaders should actively speak out against the increasing problem of illicit trade in the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia, according to legal experts and participants at a recent forum. The forum on combating illicit trade, organized by the Financial Times in...
Government officials, industry leaders, and policymakers have called for a holistic and multi-sectoral approach to curb the rising illicit tobacco trade in the country. Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Speaking at the 2nd International Tobacco Summit organized by the...
A look at a panel forum during the Second International Tobacco Summit (Dexter Barro II/MANILA BULLETIN) The Department of Agriculture (DA) is committed to address the proliferation of illicit trade in the local tobacco industry, noting its severe impact on government revenues and the...
BIR Chief Venus Gaticales during an interview with reporters in Makati City (Dexter Barro II/MANILA BULLETIN) A Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official commended on Tuesday, May 28, Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda over his proposed legislation that...
Customs officials uncovered over P200 million worth of dried marijuana inside balikbayan boxes from Thailand at the Manila International Container Port (MICP). Verne Enciso, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) director, said that the they found multiple balikbayan boxes containing...
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is aiming to ramp up its digitalization processes in trade and border controls in order to meet its revenue collection target this year. In a statement, Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio said the bureau is planning to increase collections by 15 percent to 20...
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the government should address illicit trade in order to generate higher revenue collection and provide some relief for its limited fiscal space. Gatchalian made the appeal during the recent Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) briefing in the...
Filipinos emerged “unconcerned” whether the product they buy illicit or not for as long as they are in need of such items, according to a new survey. A recent study from an Economist Impact report, “Illicit Trade: Scale, Scope and Flows”, compiled 1,600 individual sentiments, from 16...
The Office of the President (OP) has referred to the Department of Agriculture a petition by the Federation of Philippine Industries for the government to conduct an investigation over alleged illegal use of imported palm olein that has been robbing the government of billions of pesos in revenues...
At least half of all cigarettes sold in Mindanao were smuggled, depriving the government of much needed revenues to fund basic services, the anti-smuggling advocacy group FIGHT Illicit Trade Movement (FIGHT IT) said. Jesus Arranza, FIGHT IT chairman said cigarette smuggling in Mindanao has...
