Gov’t destroys P142.44M worth of Mighty cigarettes

Almost five million packs of cigarettes sold by Mighty Corporation and worth an estimated P142.44-million worth—the first of at least five batches—were destroyed by government officials in Bunawan, Davao on Sunday.

In an emailed statement, the Department of Finance said that the 4.7 million packs of cigarettes were seized during a joint operation by officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Mindanao on March 6 for having counterfeit tax stamps.

Burning of more than 4.7M packs of Mighty cigarettes with fake tax stamps to start today at Holcim, Davao City. These cigarettes were confiscated from a raid in General Santos City last March 6. @gmanews pic.twitter.com/qVezbp16cX

— Victoria Tulad (@victoriatulad) November 26, 2017

"Some 9,496 master cases or 4,748,000 packs of cigarettes of Mighty Menthol 100s, Marvels Menthol, Marvels FK and King Full Flavor brands—all manufactured by Mighty Corp.—were destroyed beginning today (November 26) at the Holcim Philippines Incorporated Geocycle compound in Bunawan, Davao City," the DOF said.

The cigarettes were said to have been destroyed through Holcim's "co-processing" method which ensures the total thermal destruction of waste materials.

Aside from this batch, the government is also set to destroy at least four more batches—66,245 cases of Mighty cigarettes confiscated in San Simon, Pampanga; 163,183 cases in San Ildefonso, Bulacan; and other smaller stockpiles confiscated in Tacloban and in Cebu.

To recall, the cigarettes were used as evidence in the complaints against Mighty Corp. filed before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The government has since withdrawn its complaints against Mighty after the company offered to settle its tax liabilities with the government for P25 billion, and shut down its operations. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA News