Philippines trails ASEAN peers in illicit trade fight
P275M worth of illegal cigarettes and manufacturing equipment busted in Pampanga on 16 February. Officials vow to continue the fight against illicit tobacco trade
RPIO3
The Philippines is lagging behind four Southeast Asian neighbors in combating illicit trade, exposing enforcement gaps that threaten legitimate businesses, consumer safety, and the country’s growing digital economy.
A new report by the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) ranks the Philippines 69th among 158 economies in the Illicit Trade Index, behind Singapore (29th), Indonesia (39th), Thailand (56th) and Vietnam (61st).
The findings put pressure on Philippine authorities to strengthen oversight of online marketplaces, logistics networks and cross-border shipments as counterfeit goods and other illegal products increasingly exploit legitimate trade channels.
The report, Assessing ASEAN’s Performance on the Illicit Trade Index, shows that ASEAN collectively scores 49.7 points, below the Asia-Pacific average of 50.9 points and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 64.4 points.
None of the 10 ASEAN economies makes the global top 20, highlighting the region’s uneven enforcement capabilities despite its growing importance as a manufacturing and trading hub.
“Illicit trade undermines the economic and social benefits that ASEAN integration is intended to deliver,” TRACIT Director-General Jeffrey Hardy said in a statement on Tuesday.
“As ASEAN works toward Vision 2045, it’s imperative to implement stronger trade-integrity safeguards to control illicit trade.”
The report identifies supply-chain oversight as a major weakness, with nine of the 10 ASEAN economies performing poorly in regulating intermediaries such as online platforms, express couriers, maritime operators and free trade zones.
It also flags the growing use of e-commerce platforms, social media and private messaging channels to distribute counterfeit goods, illicit medicines and other regulated products.
In the Philippines, the Intellectual Property Office’s E-Commerce Memorandum of Understanding is cited as a model for cooperation between online platforms and intellectual property rights holders.
However, TRACIT calls for stricter platform accountability, including mandatory seller verification, proactive screening of illegal listings and permanent bans on repeat offenders.
“Removing an illicit listing is far from creating a safe and secure marketplace for online shoppers,” said TRACIT Director of Programs Suriya Padmanaabhan.
“ASEAN needs common regional e-commerce standards that hold every platform operating in the region accountable for preventing illicit trade.”
The report also warns that weak monitoring of goods in transit allows illegal shipments to move through legitimate trade routes, particularly in economies serving as major transshipment hubs.
TRACIT urges ASEAN governments to strengthen customs cooperation, share intelligence on high-risk shipments and impose greater accountability on supply-chain operators.
“ASEAN has built an integrated trading economy, now it must build an equally integrated defense against illicit trade,” Hardy said.