Safer Cities expanded vs black market

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) is cracking down on the illegal tobacco trade that acts as the financial backbone for a broader “shadow economy.”

Expanding the Safer Cities initiative, the PNP is targeting economic saboteurs and the illicit trade financing criminal groups.

“Every illegal pack sold helps sustain criminal operations,” PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said.

The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime has flagged the Philippines as a key hub where “poly-criminal” rings use smuggling profits to bankroll human trafficking and illegal arms networks.

Probers have uncovered a web of economic sabotage wherein criminal groups leverage shared logistics systems to move multiple forms of contraband seamlessly.

The PNP has seized almost P4 billion worth of illegal cigarettes nationwide under Nartatez’s leadership.

Police are also targeting fuel profiteers, with 27 cases filed since March.

“These activities are interconnected. The same channels used to divert fuel are also used to distribute untaxed tobacco products,” Nartatez said.

To sever supply chains, the PNP is collaborating with the Department of Justice to build airtight cases against violators of the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, which classifies large-scale smuggling as a non-bailable offense.

Police said the strategy marks a shift from street-level arrests to tracking financiers and identifying key operators.

“We are going after the masterminds. Our goal is to make illicit trade too costly and too risky to sustain,” Nartatez said.