THE GOVERNMENT should raise taxes on tobacco and vape products to cut their use by Filipinos, according to the Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) Philippines.
“The buying capacity of Filipinos has increased and it will be wise to increase taxes on tobacco products to keep up with the changing times,” ASH Philippines Director-General Maria Encarnita B. Limpin told a Senate hearing looking into tobacco smuggling.
“We recommend unitary taxes on electronic smoking devices and increases to rates equal to tobacco products since electronic smoking devices are equally harmful as smoking tobacco products,” she added.
She also said the government should set up a tracking system on all standard tobacco products and e-cigarettes to monitor the movement of smuggled products.
The Philippines imposes a tax of P57 per milliliter (ml) on salt nicotine products, P6.30/ml on freebase nicotine products and P65/10 ml on classic nicotine products, according to the excise tax rates prescribed by the Bureau of Customs for 2024.
Last week, the Department of Finance pushed a single tax rate on all types of nicotine and vapor products to ease the collection burden on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said his agency is open to discussions on raising excise taxes on tobacco products but warned that continuous tax increases could also worsen smuggling.
Ms. Limpin, a pulmonologist, recommended a tax stamp on all tobacco products and e-cigarettes to track sales.
At the same hearing, Philippine Tobacco Institute President Jericho B. Nograles sought the establishment of a law enforcement group similar to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to go after tobacco smuggling.
“They have a specific law enforcement group composed of multiple groups that are focused precisely on that (going after smuggled goods),” he said. “Unfortunately, there’s no such single law enforcement agency (in the Philippines).”
Mr. Nograles said the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group is often overwhelmed since it has to divide its efforts between multiple operations such as large-scale estafa and tobacco smuggling, making it difficult to cut the illegal trade.
The BIR said it collected P130.91 billion in tobacco excise taxes in the first 11 months of 2024, well behind its full-year target of P185.34 billion.
In September, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. signed into law a measure classifying agricultural smuggling, hoarding, profiteering and financing as economic sabotage.
Republic Act No. 12022 or the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act imposes a fine equivalent to five times the value of smuggled or hoarded agricultural products, with violators also under threat of life imprisonment.
“We are still seeing a lot of people dying from cancer,” Ms. Limpin said. “Lung cancer is now the number two cause of cancer deaths in the country.” — John Victor D. Ordoñez
