Armed with a warrant issued by Regional Trial Court judge Gabriel Ingles, elements of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group swooped down on Hong Kong Trading and HY Trading and arrested their managers, a Chinese couple named Yang Hong Jiang and Sun Mei Wei, of Xiamen, China.
Police seized hundreds of boxes and bags of fake Dickies pants, shorts and shirts estimated at more than half a million pesos.
The raid was prompted by a complaint filed by American Star Apparel Philippines, the licensed distributor in the country of Williamson Dickie Company of Forth Worth, Texas, the trademark owner of Dickies products.
Acting on the complaint, the CIDG fielded agents who conducted test buys last week at both Hong Kong Trading and HY Trading, both reportedly owned by Salome Saraosa but managed by the Chinese couple.
Two CIDG teams led by Senior Inspectors Patrick Vano and Richard Caballero conducted the raids.
Saraosa was not around at the time of the raids but the two Chinese were. They, however, spoke no English and spoke through an interpreter. They denied involvement in the operation, saying they are not the owners but merely manage the stores.
Tinchu Jualo, regional sales coordinator of Dickies, said the fake products were discovered by accident in the course of a casual stroll in the downtown area.
On discovering that fake Dickies products were being sold openly on sidewalks, Jualo said he immediately initiated some surveillance that led him to the two stores.
Jualo said the cheapest genuine pair of Dickies pants sells for P899 while a shirt sells for P499.
On the other hand, a pair of counterfeit pants is sold at only P180 while a fake shirt sells for only P75.
The Chinese couple said they have been in Cebu the past four years.