Governor Marcos said the reported raid by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) operatives from Camp Crame was "very suspicious" because no actual seizure of imported cigarettes took place at the port.

"They took only one ream of the cigarettes as sample for evaluation. The result turned out later to be negative," he told newsmen during his press briefing at the provincial capitol here.

He described the raid as "very dramatic as the hooded operatives composing two platoons acted like they were going to the war."

Local customs and CIDG officials based in the province, he said, were surprised too about the raid as they claimed that there was no such smuggling report in the area.

"Yung team leaders ay nagpapasalamat nang umalis at sinabing hindi nila alam kung bakit sila pinadala dito sa Ilocos Norte," Bongbong added.

He expressed suspicion that it was obviously aimed at harassing the management of the port, saying that some parties wanted to take over the port.

He revealed that the group repeatedly asked him to allow them to use the port for smuggling activities but he rejected them outright.

The governor was also interviwed on the condition of the tomato paste factory in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte.

"Buhay pa siguro pero naghihingalona (Maybe it’s still alive but already dying)."

This is how Governor Marcos described the financially-troubled tomato paste factory owned by Northern Foods Corp. (NFC) which was established during the Marcos regime in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte.

Marcos said during a press meeting that they could not find the needed operating capital estimated at between R120 and R130 million to help save the factory from closure.

He said that he had proposed to the Department of Agriculture that the provincial government would run the factory in order to produce the needed cash to keep the plant operational.

The truth is the NFC has no more money to continue operating the factory. However, people were asking why it could afford to maintain a big office in Makati, he said.