Metro Briefs: Feb. 7, 2019

Machines producing 12M fake cigarettes daily destroyed

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) destroyed on Wednesday three machines that could make 12 million counterfeit cigarettes a day.

According to Yogi Filemon Ruiz, chief of the BOC enforcement and security service, the machines were recently seized in warehouses in Quezon City and the provinces of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija.

Ruiz said it seemed that some drug syndicates had shifted to producing counterfeit cigarettes because it was “less risky” for them.

Unlike drug trafficking, the manufacture of fake cigarettes is a bailable offense.

Ruiz said the shift might have happened as early as 2015, due to the higher tax imposed on cigarettes and because of the government’s crackdown on illegal drugs.

“They have been more focused on that (manufacture of counterfeit cigarettes) especially since the price of cigarettes has increased,” Ruiz told reporters.

He said that counterfeit cigarettes were usually sold in provinces because consumers there often buy them in retail instead of wholesale. —Jovic Yee

Lord’s Flock offers two-day seminar on spirit empowerment

The Lord’s Flock Catholic Charismatic Ministry will be holding a free Spirit Empowerment Seminar on Feb. 9 and 10.

Open to the public, the seminar will help attendees know more about God in a deeper and personal way.

It will be held from 1 to 9 p.m. at 5 Catanduanes St. (near the corner of West Avenue and Del Monte Avenue) in Quezon City.

For more information, please call The Lord’s Flock at 3765780.