Philippines: Solon Says Illicit trade Raps Just ''Corporate Propaganda''

Source from:  Manila Bulletin  08/13/2014

A lawmaker said allegations of illicit trade in the tobacco industry are mere hype and propaganda raised by some disgruntled industry players and should not be a concern of Congress or any other government agency.

"All the data thus far on the alleged illicit trade in the tobacco industry are those culled from studies and surveys commissioned by a private company that hold grudges against a competitor. This can hardly be considered a basis for any kind of probe or review," Valenzuela 2nd District Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo said.

"Corporate battles shouldn't be a national concern unless laws are being broken. But in the case of the tobacco industry, we haven't seen any official document or data to support the allegations of illicit trade," he said.

Guinigundo cautioned against falling prey to "corporate propaganda" after a foreign manufacturer called for third party monitoring of the production facilities of tobacco companies in the country.

"We shouldn't even be entertaining these things. We cannot and should not give credence to such proposals. They are self-serving and manipulative, and the people pushing it must think we Filipinos are stupid," Gunigundo said.

Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares had rejected the proposal outright, saying there was no need for it. She also said the proposal violates the country's National Revenue Code, stating that only the commissioner and the officers who can be involved in excise tax functions and doing functions of surveillance (NIRC Section 270 in relation to Section 278).

He said the real issue is how to preserve the gains of the Sin Tax Reform Law which Congress passed in 2012.

During the first year of implementation, the government's total collection of P61.62 billion came from tobacco products alone which exceeded the Bureau of Internal Revenue's original target of P51.65 billion by 20.94%.

BIR records also showed a promising trend in the first quarter of 2014 as the government's excise tax collection from tobacco products have already exceeded by 4.5 percent, amounting to P11.34 billion from a target of P10.85 billion.

On the other hand, the law has also seen success as a health measure as a national survey by the Department of Health (DOH) and Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported that smoking prevalence especially among the youth and poor have each had significant drops.

"Republic Act 10351, which reformed the country's excise tax system, has been a huge success. It has been lauded by international agencies like the World Health Organization. We should not allow vested interests to push their own selfish agenda," Gunigundo said.

In a related development, the World Health Organization-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) released the Tobacco Industry Interference Index as an attempt at grading countries in their implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO-FCTC which seeks to limit interference by tobacco industry in the setting and implementation of health policies by governments around the globe.

The Philippines, a signatory to the WHO-FCTC convention was third with a rating of 71, closely following Indonesia at a leading 78 and Malaysia, second at 72; Cambodia at 68; Laos PDR at 61; Thailand at 51; and Brunei at 29. Enditem