Opposition and administration congressmen on Thursday slammed proposals to impose a 400 percent increase on taxes imposed on cigarettes in a bid to encourage Filipinos to kick the smoking habit.

Congressmen cited a number of reasons in rejecting the proposal of the Department of Health and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP).

Rep. Simeon Datumanong (Lakas- Kampi, Maguindanao) warned that the proposed hike in taxes would only add to the suffering of Filipinos.

On the other hand, Rep. Patricio Antonio (Agbiag party-list) warned that thousands of farmers from tobacco-growing regions in the country will absorb the adverse impact of making the cost of cigarettes restrictive.

Antonio, whose constituency includes tobacco farmers in Region I, also stressed that imposing a 400 percent hike on cigarette tax is not a guarantee that Filipinos will stop smoking.

“They could probably shift to a low price brand or just go back to the traditional rolling of cigarette which has been a practice in many parts of the country,” said Antonio, who represents the Ilocanos in the lower chamber.

Backing Antonio’s statement is Rep. Jeci Lapus who also represents a tobacco-growing province of Tarlac.

“To discourage smoking, advocates should present the result of studies on the ill effects of smoking on the environment and health,” Lapus said.

Lapus said the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Internal Revenue would be in a better position to state the tax rate on cigarettes if the government pushes through with the tax hike.

Rep. Pedro Romualdo (Lakas-Kampi, Camiguin) expressed apprehension on the proposal saying it is impossible to stop anyone from smoking even if the government increased the tax on cigarette by 1000 percent.

Earlier, the DoH said a 400 percent tax hike on cigarettes would bring up the price of a cigarette stick from P2 to P7, and a pack from P30 to P120.

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MANILA, Philippines – The PMPFTC, the merged entity of Philip Morris and Fortune
Tobacco Corp., is pushing for a tax security system that it says would help the government collect more excise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.

PMPFTC president Chris Nelson said he is set to formally present a new excise collection scheme to Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

On the sidelines of the recent Philippine Midyear Economic Briefing in Makati, Purisima instructed Nelson to formalize his proposal.

The Finance chief said he had read of Nelson’s proposal in the newspapers but he could not think of how government could possibly benefit from such a scheme unless a detailed plan was presented.

“Let him make the formal offer so we can evaluate its merits and we can act on it. Otherwise, those are just one of many ideas we hear about very often after which nothing happens,” Purisima said.

Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares said: “Why should government make the move and ask the manufacturers to come and make a formal proposal? The Bureau of Internal Revenue certainly will not do that.”

According to health group Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance or FCAP the cigarette and alcohol industry pays P75 billion to P100 billion worth of taxes every year.

Nelson said PMPFTC will push for a new scheme so that the industry would be able to pay more taxes now that government has abandoned the proposal by Swiss-based SICPA Security Products SA and its excise stamp tax proposal costing tens of billions of pesos.

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In 1994, Leo Burnett, the ad agency of Philip Morris International, reported in an internal document (its PR Plan for the Philippines) that international anti-tobacco activists had nominated the Philippines as having the strongest tobacco lobby in Asia. This was revealed in a 2004 study by the University of Sydney School of Public Health which, not coincidentally, was entitled “The Philippine Tobacco Industry: the strongest lobby in Asia.”

The study was interesting, because its information came from internal tobacco industry documents about the conduct of the industry in the Philippines since the 1960s. These internal documents had been made available through the so-called Master Settlement Agreement entered into in 1998 between the US tobacco industry and the US Attorneys General of about 48 states.

The documents reveal how the industry tried to deny/obfuscate the health hazards associated with smoking, paying up to $600 a day for medical “consultants” to do so and commissioning Leo Burnet to “propagate studies that point to other possible causes of cancer”; how it was able to get the Philippine Tobacco Board and the Department of Trade to advertise that Philippine-grown tobacco is…”possibly the only safe, non-cancer producing tobacco because of the very low tar and nicotine content and because Philippine grown tobacco burns completely, avoiding the formation of hazardous hydrocarbons.” Another document reports that “the government has been bought off twice and it is possible for it to happen again”; still another notes that “corruption, bribery, smuggling and dirty politics are worse than anywhere else and continues for the benefit of officials who want to get rich quick.”

Some of the documents are now almost 50 years old, but the power of the tobacco lobby is exemplified by the fact that while health warnings appeared in the US in 1966, it took another 30 years before they appeared on Philippine cigarette packs. It is also exemplified by the fact that a poison-pill provision was inserted by the bicameral committee in the already watered-down sin tax bill of 1997, which effectively reduced the future revenues arising from the bill even as it gave an undue advantage to existing players over new players in the industry.

And that power still continues, if the recent setback of the Department of Health is any indication. In May of this year the DOH — read Dr. Esperanza Cabral — issued AO 2010-0013 requiring tobacco manufacturers to put images of tobacco-related illness in their cigarette packs, among others, effective Sept 10. Understand, reader, that proposals in the 14th Congress to legislate this were torpedoes, thanks again to the tobacco lobby, but Espi Cabral is made of sterner stuff.

Understand also , please, that graphic information is important because studies have shown that the pictures are effective in getting the smokers to quit smoking, or at least lessen their smoking (more than half of smokers who see the pictures cut down their cigarette consumption). Which is why 38 countries, including the 27 countries of the European Union, require the graphics on the package. And which is why it is being fought tooth and nail by the industry.

And so far, the industry succeeded. Five companies have filed cases in various courts assailing the validity of the AO, and so far, two courts have granted injunctions, and one court has denied petition for injunction. Two to one in favor of tobacco.

The speed with which the first injunction was issued is noteworthy: it was requested by Fortune Tobacco, and granted by Marikina RTC Judge Felix Reyes at the beginning of July. Reyes’s court, it should be noted, is located in Barangay Fortune — named after, you guessed it, Fortune Tobacco. Cozy.

How effective has the tobacco industry’s lobby been? Put it this way: smoking prevalence is not only high in the Philippines, but looks like being on the rise, unlike world trends. Some data, lifted from a study by UPSE’s Stella Quimbo illustrate the point:

Adult male smoking prevalence is at 57.6% thus ranking the Philippines No.5 in the world (circa 2003-2006 shows a lower prevalence).

Adult female smoking prevalence is at 12.3%. so that the Philipppines is ranked 26th in the world.

But worse is still to come:

Youth male smoking prevalence, at 26.5% puts the Philippines at No.4

Youth female smoking prevalence (13%) is ranked 2nd in the world.

And as if that were not enough, here is the absolute pits: From 2001 to 2003, adult male smoking prevalence increased by 5 percentage points; and from 2003 to 2007, youth smoking prevalence increased by almost 8 percentage points. This, on top of the finding of the 2000 National Tobacco Survey in the Philippines, which found that almost one-fifth of the young Filipinos who started smoking did so before age 10. And what have been the effects of that kind of prevalence? Per the WHO: “Tobacco’s cost to governments, to employers and to the environment includes social, welfare and health care spending, loss of foreign exchange in importing cigarettes; loss of land that could grow food; costs of fires and damage to buildings caused by careless smoking; environmental costs ranging from deforestation to collection of smokers; litter, absenteeism, decreased productivity, higher numbers of accidents and higher insurance premiums.” WHO estimates the health care costs alone, for the Philippines, to be $600 million a year.

The tobacco industry, however, has a different and distinctly positve take on smokers’ deaths, as quoted in WHO’s Tobacco Atlas: “…reflecting 5.23 years of life lost for the average smoker — indirect positive effects [are that] public finance benefits from smoking indirectly, via savings on the health care costs — in pensions — and public housing costs savings” (this from a report on the Czech Republic, commissioned by Philip Morris, 2001 — but it must be added that Philip Morris apologized for this, as headlined in the Wall Street Journal, to wit: “Philip Morris Apologizes for Report Touting Benefits of Smokers’ Deaths”).

Down with the tobacco lobby.

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Filed Under: Tobacco, Education, Children, Anniversaries, Addiction

MANILA, Philippines—Kids took a stand against smoking at last Saturday’s Inquirer Read-Along which was held on the 15th anniversary of Junior Inquirer (JI) which was culminating its campaign against tobacco.

The read-along was held at the Museo Pambata at Rizal Park in Manila.

Featured reader magician
Alakim (Allan de Paz), a finalist in the reality show
“Pilipinas Got Talent,” read Segundo D. Matias Jr.’s “Ang Usok at si Daddy (Smoke and Daddy),” while returning storytellers from Sophia School in Meycauyan, Bulacan, read “How Cigarettes Affect the Body,” written by Sophia teacher Doray Carable. Both stories tell of the hazards of smoking.

After reading his story, Alakim, a first-time storyteller, gave tips on how to prevent cigarette addiction while working his magic tricks.

“Smoking is an unnecessary evil. Stay away from people who smoke,” he said in Filipino, simultaneously making a cigarette disappear and reappear.

Sophia School principal Ann Abacan and teachers Nerry Denilla, Salie Villaluz and Dhang Bernabe danced to the song “Yosi Kadiri” by Gerry Cornejo, former corporate affairs director of one of the biggest tobacco companies in the country and a founding director of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP).

Poster-making contest

Also featured at the session was an exhibit of 15 posters made by the finalists in Junior Inquirer’s “A Smoke Free World” poster-making contest.

The contest was launched in April together with FCAP, a nongovernment organization which pushes for policies to control the use of tobacco.

The posters depicted the effects of smoking, the fight against tobacco and the hope for a tobacco-free world.

The contest winner was Nicole Gomez, 12, of Miriam College grade school who bested around 350 contestants from all over the country.

In second place was 9-year-old Wilfred Ang Chan while Ana Jacintha Jimenez, 8, was third.

Other finalists were Andrew Brandon Ong, Kathleen Alissa Jayme, Raphael Philip Chua, Hannah Esteves, Vren Protacio, Ma. Angelica Mariano, Maria Isabel Ilagan, Veronica Gayle Tiu Tangcueco, William Joseph Buhayo, Jamia Mei Tolentino, Raymond Xavier Mercado and Noelle Garalde.

Judges, finalists, winners

The judges included Inquirer Associate Editor Abelardo Ulanday, FCAP creative director Jam Jacob, JI illustrator Steph Bravo and Inquirer Libre Graphic Artist Richie Sabado.

The finalists received art kits from the National Bookstore Foundation, gift bags and premium Inquirer items.

The top three winners also received Inquirer subscriptions for their schools and cash prizes.

FCAP Executive Director Dr. Ma. Encarnita Limpin said it was important for young people to be aware of the effects of smoking because “they are very vulnerable but very influential.”

About life, health

She said the antismoking campaign was “not just about smoking but about life and health.”

Seven-year-old Aoyama Ashie Amado, a first-time read-along participant, said she enjoyed the session.

“Not only did I get to see magic but I also learned more about the dangers of smoking. I will tell my tito who is a heavy smoker what smoking can do to one’s lungs so he will stop,” she said.

The session was sponsored by Magnolia Fruit Drinks, Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdog, Probe Media Foundation, National Bookstore Foundation, Museo Pambata and Inquirer.net.

Most of the funds used for the antismoking campaign came from a grant Junior Inquirer won from FCAP through Probe Media Foundation.

Around 130 children from JI Snoops, JI Club, St. Alphonsus Liguori Integrated School and Isabelo de los Reyes Elementary School and the winners of the JI poster-making contest came to the session.

Exhibit at Museo Pambata

The 15 posters will be on display at Museo Pambata on Sept. 1-15. The campaign was the kicker for the 15th anniversary celebration of Junior Inquirer. The magazine was hailed by Unicef and the Philippine Press Institute as Best Children’s Newspaper for five straight years until its induction into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

“There will be more events and anniversary-related articles and contests in the coming months so the kids better be on the lookout for that,” said JI editor in chief Ruth Navarra.

The next read-along will be held at the Inquirer offices on Chino Roces Avenue, Makati, on Sept. 11.

Interested participants may contact Ellen Caparros at 8978808 ext. 329. Slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

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A man who practically lost his ability for speech due to smoking criticized the opening of a new warehouse of a well-known tobacco products manufacturer that opened in Subic Freeport late this month.

In a statement, Emer Rojas said the P600 million facility would seem like a big investment in the country but this is nothing compared to the sickness or deaths tobacco users incur because of the habit. “The tobacco companies would like us to think of them as benevolent investors that bring in big business to our country. But that’s very misleading. How does millions in investment compare with the billions lost to the care of those who get sick, and to the many lives lost to tobacco-related diseases?”

Rojas, a former chain-smoker, is now the head of the New Vois Association. Rojas lost his voice due to laryngeal cancer.

The group is one of the supporters of the DoH Administrative order 2010-0013 which requires picture-based warnings of tobacco-related diseases in cigarette packs. It also bans the use of words such as ‘low-tar,’ ‘light’ and ‘ultra-light.’

The AO requires that cigarette packs print pictures of tobacco-related diseases within 90 days from the effectivity of the mandate or by September 10, 2010. It has been challenged with the filing of separate injunctions from cigarette companies.

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MANILA, Philippines – Tobacco farmers lauded President Aquino and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima for retaining the current excise tax rate on tobacco products, saying the move would further stimulate the growth of the farm sector as well as generate revenues for the government.

Excise tax collections on tobacco products already reached P11.9 billion during the first half of this year compared to only P8.4 billion during the same period last year, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

“This proves that the current excise tax system works,” said farmers, who belong to the the Immayos Farmers Association (IFA), the Samara Farmers Associations (SFA), the Itawes Foundation, and the Philippine Association of Tobacco-based Cooperatives (Patco).

“Any changes to the current excise tax law may result to lower revenue collections,” they said.

The farmers were referring to Republic Act 9334, or the excise tax law on alcohol and tobacco products. This law requires an increase in tax rates every two years beginning 2005. The last tax adjustment was in 2009, and another is in the offing on Jan. 1, 2011.

The farmers said that it would be best to follow this law rather than introduce amendments — the result of which could spell disaster to tobacco farming communities.

“A hike in the excise tax may result in a lower demand for cigarettes, which would lead local cigarette manufacturers to cut down their purchases of tobacco leaf,” they said.

“A decrease in the demand for homegrown tobacco will then demolish the livelihood of tobacco farmers and will cause loss of jobs among workers under the farmers’ employ, which is contrary to the policy of the State to increase job generation.

“Also, there will be loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector, the tobacco-buyer sector, and within the government as well,” they said.

The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) said there are some 2.7 million Filipinos dependent on the tobacco industry compared to only 1.9 million last year.

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MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) said yesterday that the injunction secured by several cigarette manufacturers against the Department of Health’s administrative order requiring cigarette manufacturers to put picture-based health warnings on cigarette packs is effective nationwide.

“Three cigarette manufacturers — Fortune Tobacco Corp. (FTC), PMFTC Inc. (PMFTC), and Mighty Corp. (Mighty) — were actually able to secure injunctions and a status quo order against the DOH AO from different Regional Trial Courts (RTCs),” said PTI president Rodolfo Salanga.

Earlier, the Regional Trial Courts (RTC) of Marikina and Bulacan, on petitions filed by FTC and Mighty, respectively, granted temporary restraining orders (TRO) and subsequently, writs of preliminary injunction against the implementation of the AO requiring the printing of graphic health warnings on cigarette packs and banning the use of descriptors.

Meanwhile, the RTC in Tanauan City, Batangas confirmed last July 15, 2010 the DOH’s undertaking through a status quo order to stay the implementation of the AO until the question on its authority to issue the same has been resolved.

The injunctions and status quo order were issued in favor of the petitioner-cigarette companies and thus, enforceable nationwide and not only in the areas where the regional trial courts issuing the orders have jurisdiction,” clarified Salanga.

Salanga was reacting to news reports that the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines (FCAP) is urging the DOH to implement the AO in parts of the country where the tobacco companies were not able to secure any injunction.

“FCAP is again willfully misinforming the public. The DOH should obey the court orders and maintain the status quo (which means only textual warnings are required to be placed on cigarette packaging),” urged Salanga.

The PTI is a group of cigarette manufacturers and importers in the Philippines which counts among its members FTC, PMFTC, Mighty, Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc., Japan Tobacco Inc., La Suerte Cigar and Cigarette Factory, and the Associated Anglo-American Tobacco Corp.

In June 2010, five of its members separately asked the courts in their principal place of business to determine whether or not the DOH has the authority to issue such an order.

The DOH has subsequently filed motions to dismiss these cases in the respective courts.

Legal experts say that unless the injunction orders are lifted, the DOH cannot enforce the AO requiring picture-based health warnings on cigarette packs.

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Lakas-Kampi-CMD Rep. Erico Aumentado of Bohol said the bills aimed to raise funds for the PhilHealth universal coverage of indigents, barangay officials and workers, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) access to public elementary and high schools, the construction of new school buildings and the hiring of teachers.

Aumentado said House Bill 2485 seeks to increase the taxes on cigar and cigarettes by P3 for every pack, which is expected to generate P3 billion a year, in addition to what is being currently collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for the government’s PhilHealth requirements.

As for House Bill 2484, Aumentado said it seeks to increase by 10 percent the excise tax for every liter of alcoholic products, which is estimated to generate about P2.5-billion additional income for the government to fund the Department of Education’s (DepEd) ICT program and the hiring of new teachers, preferably computer proficient, majors in Math, Science and English, and to support the “One Teacher, One Classroom” policy that Aumentado has been pushing for the DepEd and the national government to adopt.

If approved, the bill’s expected beneficiaries are the indigents who are not yet under the PhilHealth’s universal coverage, barangay captains, kagawad, secretaries, treasurers, members of the Lupong Tagapamayapa, tanods health- and day-care workers who are considered front liners in the delivery of basic services to the people in the barangays.

“The additional 10-percent excise tax on alcoholic products would benefit high-school students and elementary-school pupils and their teachers with the program on computerization and Internet access, as well as new teachers hiring and new classrooms construction,” Aumentado said.

[CLICK HERE for original source] ]]> http://www.quitsmoking.net.ph/?feed=rss2&p=888 0 http://www.quitsmoking.net.ph/?p=922 http://www.quitsmoking.net.ph/?p=922#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:40:36 +0000 admin http://www.quitsmoking.net.ph/?p=922 By DEXTER SEE

AGOO, La Union — At least eight towns in the second district of La Union have received their share from the P350 million burley tobacco funds that was released recently through the initiative of Rep. Eufranio Eriguel (2nd District, La Union).

Eriguel said that Bauang town gets the biggest share of P119,994 million but it was reduced to P93 million due to monetization where it was paid in advance from a bank.

While other towns that benefited from the fund include the towns of Sto. Tomas – P48 million, Rosario – P35.8 million, Aringay – more than P30 million, Agoo – P11 million, Caba – around P40 million, Naguilian – with almost P15 million, and Tubao – P4.5 million.

Eriguel said the fund is intended for the construction, rehabilitation and upgrading of numerous farm-to-market roads, infrastructure projects, livelihood programs, cooperatives, equipment, and fertilizer for farmers.

He said that aside from the P350 million or 80 percent congressional share, the provincial government also received its 10 percent share, and another 10 percent share for the eight municipalities.

“I hope that this initial fund would help our constituents in La Union, particularly in the second district, because we have been left behind for the past years if compared to the first district,” he said.

The lawmaker is inclined to pursue the continuous release of the share of the province’s district from the tobacco funds which will eventually be downloaded to the concerned recipient local governments to be utilized for the efficient and effective delivery of basic services to the people.

Also to bankroll the implementation of vital infrastructure projects to guarantee the realization of rural development for the benefit of the present and future generations of La Union residents.

According to Eriguel, local governments must be empowered to get their fund entitlement from various sources of income, especially the tobacco funds, so that the funds will be released on time in order to serve its purpose rather than wait for so long thereby rendering the funds not enough to complete the projects where it was supposed to be allocated which will deprive the people access to development efforts.

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MANILA, Philippines – Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. inaugurated yesterday its P600-million regional tobacco leaf warehouse at the Subic Techno Park inside the Freeport Zone.

The opening of the P600-million phase two facility at the Subic techno park cements the place of the Philippines as Philip Morris’ tobacco leaf warehouse hub in the Asia Pacific region.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Armand C. Arreza said the new warehouse is part of a three-phase investment plan of Philip Morris. The third phase will be for $15-million facilitity. However, Arreza said he does not know when Philip Morris will infuse the final part of the three-fold investment plan.

The newly opened warehouse will store tobacco leaf for shipment and processing in various PMI cigarette factories in the Asia Pacific region including the Philippines.

“This development establishes the Philippines, particularly the Subic Freeport zone as a major center for regional tobacco leaf trading and distribution,” Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (PMPI) managing director Chris Nelson said.

The new warehouse has a capacity for storing 14,000 metric tons of tobacco leaf. Nelson noted that the capacity can further be expanded to accommodate an additional 10,000 metric tons.

Nelson noted that the warehouse has state-of-the-art facilities such as humidity control, fire suppression equipment and air conditioning system to handle and carefully preserve the tobacco leaf imported from China, Indonesia, Thailand and many others.

The tobacco leaf stored in the warehouse will be used by Philip Morris manufacturing facilities in the region including the cigarette factory in Tanuan, Batangas.

“As with the other investments of Philip Morris in the Philippines, this leaf warehouse further cements our commitment to the economic development of the country,” Nelson said in his speech.

“We are especially proud that PMI has chosen the Subic Freeport Zone, from among several locations in Southeast Asia. It is a very ideal location that provides advantages in cost and efficiency over other countries where PMI’s tobacco leaves were previously kept,” he added.

The warehouse is not part of the assets that were merged with Lucio Tan’s Fortune Tobacco Company (FTC). Last February FTC and PMPMI, a local affiliate of PMI, announced that they have united the companies’ business operations in a new company called PMFTC Inc.

Both companies have contributed selected assets and liabilities into the new company, with each party holding an equal economic interest. Everyday management of the new firm is by Nelson while Lucio Tan sits as chairman.

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