Bacolod courier turns over PHP 1.2 million fake seasoning

By Glazyl M. Jopson

BACOLOD CITY — A courier company surrendered 125 sacks of counterfeit seasoning valued at PHP 1.2 million to authorities in Barangay 26 on Friday.

Police Maj. Christopher Dulagan, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Bacolod, said a logistics company had received the shipment for delivery to an intended consignee identified only as alias “Choey” of Bacolod City.

The consignee initially agreed to claim the shipment but stopped communicating with the logistics company after a CIDG-Bacolod entrapment operation on Aug. 5.

That operation led to the arrest of an elderly Chinese national and a Filipina reseller in Barangay Mansilingan.

Authorities also confiscated PHP 470,000 worth of similar counterfeit products during the operation.

CIDG-Bacolod said the surrendered products were confirmed to be counterfeit after verification with a representative of the manufacturer.

Police said the shipment may constitute a violation of Republic Act 8293, or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, as amended.

Dulagan said investigators would work to establish the consignee’s real identity and prepare the appropriate complaint.

The products were reportedly shipped from Manila and were believed to have come from a single supplier, Dulagan said.

Investigators are also determining whether the suspected Chinese supplier is linked to the distribution of the same products outside Bacolod.

Dulagan cited the recent confiscation of several packs of similar seasoning in La Castellana, Negros Occidental.

A criminal complaint has already been filed against the two suspects arrested during the Aug. 5 operation.

Police monitoring and investigation are continuing.

Section 155 of the Intellectual Property Code covers the unauthorized use or imitation of registered trademarks in the sale, distribution or advertising of goods when it is likely to cause confusion or deception.