BIR Neutral in Cigarette Controversy

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is staying in the middle over the business war between the giant cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation (PMFTC) and its less known competitor Mighty Corporation (MC), producer of low-priced cigarettes which was accused of alleged tax evasion, smuggling and other trade malpractices by a foreign research firm.

BIR Neutral in Cigarette Controversy

A bureau tax fraud officer who declined to be named said “we have not received any derogatory confidential information against MC other than what we read in newspapers on the results of the survey conducted by AC Nielsen.”

The Bulacan-based MC said the survey allegedly commissioned by PMTC picturing it as unscrupulous enterprise was “unfair and malicious to discredit and to kill all local brands. It said a foreign-dominated monopoly is geared towards promoting mid-market brands since profit margins in the low-cost category are low."

This way, it said local brands will be faced out to favor expensive brands MC said it was untrue that it was selling its products at a loss to gain more patronage and eat up the low income clientele of PMTC which now control 94% of the cigarette market.

“MC is not selling at a loss and is gaining profit as evidenced by the more than P5.4 billion income and business tax payments to the BIR during the first nine months of the year, which payment is expected to rise to P8 billion by the end of the year,” said MC's Executive Vice President and Spokesperson Oscar P. Barrientos