The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is investigating the possible involvement of two politicians from northern Luzon in the proliferation of smuggled and unregistered cigarettes in the country.
DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla disclosed the information following a raid on an illegal cigarette-manufacturing factory in Mexico, Pampanga that can produce P150 million worth of cigarettes per day.
During the operation on Jan. 28 in a warehouse in Barangay Panipuan, Mexico, Pampanga, six Chinese were arrested while 63 Filipino workers were rescued from what Remulla described as a clear case of human trafficking. The local workers had not received the promised monthly salary of P15,000.
The first high-impact anti-smuggling operation was on Dec. 31 last year when police discovered P1.1 billion worth of cigarettes in Batangas City. The following day, around P1.5 billion of the same cigarettes were seized in Malabon.
Remulla said the operation in Pampanga was a result of the follow-up investigation against all those responsible for the entry of cigarettes in the country, which he said cost the national government P30 billion in unpaid taxes in 2024.
And based on that investigation, Remulla said at least two politicians are financing the operation of cigarette smuggling in the country.
“We suspect there are two northern Luzon politicians behind it. We are still investigating, we cannot give you the names but we suspect there are politicians behind these,” said Remulla in a press briefing in Pampanga where the raid was conducted.
“They hold the entire ecosystem of illegal tobacco. These politicians are Luzon based,” he added when asked to elaborate on the role of the politicians in cigarette smuggling. (Aaron Recuenco)
