THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)-Region 16 warned on Wednesday, January 22, manufacturers of counterfeit cigarettes that they will be dealt with the full force of the law for depriving the government of billions in revenues that could have been allocated for public services.

Lawyer Jonaidah Darimbang, BIR-R16 legal division assistant chief, said they will not stop hunting down manufacturers of contraband and tax evaders.

"Definitely, we will conduct operations always. Because aside from this, we have already filed charges against different taxpayers who have violated the same provisions of the tax law," she said.

The owner of the counterfeit cigarettes will be facing four charges under the National Internal Revenue Code, face imprisonment and pay P882 million worth of excise tax.

In March of 2019, authorities also confiscated truckloads of cigarettes estimated to be worth P60 million inside a warehouse in Barangay Kauswagan.

Also in August 2019, cigarette-making machines and some contraband "worth billions" were seized and destroyed by the BIR.

Among the items seized were three vans carrying six unregistered units of cigarette-packing machines, four units of cigarette-making machines, one unit of cigarette filter machine, one box of fake BIR stamps, among others.