Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. has ordered all BIR officials to continue exerting all efforts in fighting against illicit vape and cigarette traders, whether the same be sold online or through brick-and-mortar stores. 

This order comes after the May 8, 2024, meeting of the Private Sector Advisory Council-Agriculture Sector Group in Malacañang, where President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. was present.

Illicit vape and cigarette, whether sold online or through ordinary stores, is tax evasion. It is criminal in nature. The nationwide forces of the BIR have their orders to continue raiding and filing criminal cases against any individual or business that is involved in the illicit vape and cigarette trade. We have warned you as early as 2022. We have raided and filed criminal cases as early as 2022. Register your business and pay your taxes. You are destroying an industry that provides millions of jobs to Filipinos," Commissioner Lumagui stated.

Commissioner Lumagui has been consistent in his drive against illicit vape and cigarettes since 2022. 

The BIR raided vape warehouses in Manila in November 2022; a P1.2 billion criminal case was filed in December 2022. The BIR won this case earlier this year, and warrants of arrest have been issued.

The BIR also conducted, for the first time in its history, a nationwide raid against illicit cigarettes in January 2023. A P1.8 billion criminal case was filed in May 2023 as a result of this nationwide raid. Another set of nationwide raids against illicit cigarettes was conducted in July 2023.