Courts should decide on fake stamps – group

An industry leader said the government should leave it to the courts to decide on who should be punished in connection with the discovery of over P2-billion worth of cigarettes with alleged fake stamps by the Bureaus of Customs and Internal Revenue (BIR).

“The war on illicit trade is not about personalities, nationalities, company size and market dominance. It is about the full implementation of Philippine tax and criminal laws, upon which those who violate these laws must be punished, regardless of company size and the nationalities of those involved in it,” Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) Chairman and Fight Illicit Trade (Fight IT) convenor Jesus Lim Arranza said over the weekend.