By Nanette Guadalquiver

SMUGGLED GOODS. Personnel of the Bacolod City Police Office recover PHP1.65 million worth of illicit cigarettes from an abandoned van in Barangay Pahanocoy on Wednesday (April 22, 2026). The seizure is part of a wider regional crackdown that has netted more than PHP138 million in smuggled tobacco products since early April. (Photo courtesy of Bacolod City Police)

BACOLOD CITY – The recovery of massive volumes of illicit cigarettes over the past three weeks has disrupted the supply chain of smuggled tobacco products in the region, the Police Regional Office -Negros Island Region (PRO-NIR) bared Thursday.

A police operation on Wednesday led to the discovery of PHP1.65 million worth of smuggled cigarettes abandoned inside a van in Barangay Pahanocoy.

On Tuesday, regional intelligence operatives and Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) personnel uncovered a warehouse in Barangay Alijis containing thousands of boxes of packaging materials and illicit production paraphernalia.

In neighboring Bago City, police arrested nine Chinese nationals and four Filipinos on the same day during a raid on a trading house in Barangay Calumangan that yielded cigarette-manufacturing machinery.

As of Thursday, the PRO-NIR has yet to release the final valuation for the items recovered in the Alijis and Calumangan operations.

“Our intensified and sustained operations against cigarette smuggling demonstrate the firm resolve to continuously disrupt illegal trade activities across the region,” PRO-NIR Director Brig. Gen. Thomas Arnold Ibay said.

Ibay added that the regional command will continue to expand intelligence coverage and sustain aggressive enforcement to combat what he described as economic sabotage.

From April 5 to 19, the PRO-NIR recorded 25 anti-illicit cigarette operations, resulting in 12 arrests and the seizure of 56,393.5 reams of cigarettes valued at PHP138.58 million.

Ibay emphasized that these figures reflect a sustained momentum in preventing the distribution of smuggled tobacco within local markets.

BCPO officer-in-charge Col. Eugene Rebadomia stated that investigators are currently verifying the identity of the owner or renter of the Alijis warehouse.

Bacolod City Mayor Greg Gasataya assured the Philippine National Police of full support from the city government in curbing illegal production and distribution.

“We assure the people of Bacolod that there will be no letup in going after these illegal operations that harm public health and the local business sector,” Gasataya said. (PNA)