THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it is working to cut the supply of fake goods in the Philippines after the United States Office of the Trade Representative again included the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City on its list of notorious markets for counterfeiting and piracy in 2023.
In an interview at the sidelines of the agency’s 122nd founding anniversary celebration on Tuesday, Feb. 13, BOC assistant commissioner and spokesperson Vincent Maronilla said counterfeit products are on the top of the list of items they recover during anti-smuggling operations.
“Last year we actually apprehended about P43 billion worth of smuggled goods and number one on that list are counterfeit goods — IPR goods or goods that violate intellectual property rights,” he said.
Maronilla said the BOC is addressing the problem through a two-pronged approach.
“Number one, we’re guarding against importation at the port level. If that’s not enough, then we’re also doing raids outside of the ports through the warehouses that store these counterfeit goods. We’re locating and apprehending these goods at the warehouse level so that it won’t go to the stores,” he said.
During the same event, BOC commissioner Bienvenido Rubio also led the condemnation of an estimated P1.4 billion worth of smuggled e-cigarettes or vape products. (ABS-CBN News)
