00:00Six Chinese suspects are in police custody while 63 Filipino men and women are allegedly enslaved as factory workers under sweatshop conditions have been liberated thanks to a long overdue raid of an illegal cigarette manufacturing shop in Pampanga earlier today by the police, customs, agents and led by DILG head Honsho John Vic Remulia.
00:24And as our Ryan Lissiguez reports, the suspects were caught in flagrante delicto and had no time to run away or hide their illegal products and means of production.
00:39This man was caught in the act of operating an illegal cigarette manufacturing facility when operatives of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group or CIDG raided this warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga.
00:51Authorities raided the facility on January 28 after receiving information regarding its illegal activities.
00:58The illegal factory is allegedly capable of producing cigarettes worth 4.5 billion pesos in just one month of operation.
01:07Yung bawat sigarilyong illegal na mga pasok dito ay binabawas ang pera para sa kalusugan ng mamamayan.
01:15Ang pera pong yan ay para sa DOH, para sa DOH hospitals.
01:19According to Interior Secretary John Vic Remulia, the factory has no permit and is also using fake tax stamps.
01:26Aside from agricultural smuggling, the owners of the factory will also face charges of economic sabotage and human trafficking due to the Pogo-like detention of workers.
01:36Ito po ay nanggaling sa intelligence operations ng CIDG at ito pong pinasok nila.
01:45Kasama po ron, three cigarette making machines, two cigarette packing machines,
01:52ayun nga lahat ng preparnalia at yung brand name na Two Moons.
01:56Fake phone, tax stamps sila at lahat.
01:58Ang na-conviscate namin dito ay umigit kung walang 400 million pesos.
02:04Isang araw ng operations nang yan.
02:07Pagpa kasi yan, iikot na siya.
02:09Six Chinese nationals who were managing the factory were arrested by authorities.
02:14More than 60 Filipino workers were rescued from the site.
02:17Di pa namin na full debrief kung tagasaan sila.
02:20Pero ang offer po sa kanila ay isweldo na 15,000 a month.
02:25Dapat 15,30 ang bayad sila pero hindi po sila sinweldohan ng huling pag-trabaho dito.
02:30Kaya we consider that involuntary servitude ang ginagawa nila.
02:33Rimuya maintains that two politicians from Northern Luzon are believed to be the mastermind and financier of the illegal cigarette factory.
02:42Aside from the politicians, four incorporators are also involved,
02:46two of whom are Filipinos while the other two are Koreans.
02:50As of now, under investigation kasi titignan namin kung binigyan na ng business permit to,
02:56kung na-inspect to, hindi.
02:57January pa lang kasi, February pa lang eh.
02:59Na-discovered to January 29.
03:02So within the mandate pa rin kung nabisita na ng BFP,
03:06nabisita na ng local authorities para i-inspect ang lugar.
03:12Kung in-inspect po nila at binigyan ng business permit, eh liable po sila.
03:16Authorities are now determining the source of the raw materials used in the production of the illegal cigarettes.
03:24Ryan Lisigues from the National TV Network for a New and Better Philippines.
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