5.3 Billion Worth of Fake Goods Seized by Government

Five point three (5.3) billion pesos worth of fake cigarettes and cigarette production equipment were gathered by the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (NCIPR) led by Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL). This was only during the first quarter of the year; from January to April.

Counterfeit and Fake Goods

With the growing demands of cigarettes around the country, there are some manufacturers who bound to step into the illegal production of fake goods. According to the IPOPHL Director General Josephine R. Santiago, the 2018 first quarter seizure reflects a triple-digit growth from the comparable period last year and attests to IPOPHL and NCIPR’s unflagging efforts to stamp out the spread of counterfeit and pirated goods.

Cigarettes and cigarette production equipment were some of the top listed in the seized fake goods in the first quarter that amounted to a worth of PHP 5 billion. Other products included in the list fake goods are handbags and wallets worth PHP 137 million and optical media at PHP 103 million. Footwear is also listed in the list with an amount of PHP 55 million and the rest of the fake goods fell into an amount PHP 25 million.

This Q1 (quarter 1) seizure does not even reflect yet the value seized by the Bureau of Customs which routinely impounds a substantial amount of fake goods from the country’s gateways. With this strong showing in enforcement of IP rights, we believe we can surpass the P8.2 billion in fake and counterfeit items gotten in 2017,” said IPOPHL Director General Josephine R. Santiago.

This substantial take in the first quarter alone indicates the aggressive drive of our enforcement partners to clamp down on proliferating fake and counterfeit goods. Government has been persistent not just in impeding entry of these goods through the ports, but apprehending local manufacturers and distributors of these products,” IPOPHL Deputy Director General Teodoro C. Pascua added.