Local cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp. said Thursday it will open its warehouses to cooperate with the Bureau of Customs.
“Mighty Corp. is willing to open all its warehouses to cooperate with the Bureau of Customs for seizure of fake cigarette products should any be found within its premises. It reiterates its long-standing position that it is not in the business of producing fake cigarette products as its own local brands are well-accepted by its customers,” Mighty Corp. executive vice president and spokesperson Oscar Barrientos said.
“The company, however, bewails the use by other government agencies of mission orders of BOC to pursue schemes of its competitors to seize its products using a false pretext that fake cigarettes are stored in its warehouses because of its being in the forefront of effort to alleviate the plight of local tobacco farmers through amendatory legislation,” Barrientos said.
He said the result of raids conducted Wednesday by BOC in warehouses of Mighty in Pampanga and General Santos found no fake products.
Barrientos said that should have aborted the activity, but other government regulators without appropriate mission orders or directives from its head offices had used the raid to assert offenses by Mighty not covered by the BOC mission orders.
Mighty asked BOC to keep vigilant to avert smuggling and ensure collection of duties and taxes, and insisted it was not producing fake products and had done nothing to violate any of regulation or the Tariff and Customs Code.
Mighty said these raids which had not resulted in the confiscation of fake products of its competitors should not be misused by its competitors who were only seeking the destruction of a 70-year-old local cigarette manufacturing company.
Barrientos said the company would take steps to ask for the immediate re-opening of its warehouses, and pursue punitive action against those who had misused the BOC mission orders for insidious purposes.
“A local company should not cower or be at the tender mercies of its competitors who are against its advocacy of alleviating the plight of local tobacco farmers,” he said.