Fight Fair And Square, Solon Dares Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp.

Source from:  Philippines Celebrity 11/10/2014

Foreign tobacco giant Philip Morris is big enough to fight its own battles without resorting to underhanded activities and dirty tactics.

Outspoken Cavite 4th District Rep. Elpidio Barzaga issued this statement yesterday for the multinational cigarette maker as he assailed the firm's campaign against rival Mighty Corp., a Filipino-owned pioneering company, which has been operating for the past 70 years.

"Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC) is big enough to fight its own battles. It is a global player, and it has vast resources at its disposal. It doesn't have to resort to dirty and underhanded tactics," Barzaga said.

He also chided PMFTC for calling for a review of the Sin Tax Reform Law (STRL) because it lost part of its market share to Mighty Corp.

PMFTC cited a study conducted by the Senate Tax Study and Research Office (STSRO) which was presented on October 22 at the Senater hearing of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Comprehensive Tax Research Study Reform Program which supposedly underlines alleged fraud committed by Mighty Corp.

But Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares, who attended the hearing, said she considered the STSRO study "inaccurate, incomplete and not validated."

She said the study was based on data collated from reports and market studies commissioned by Philip Morris International, PMFTC's parent company.

Barzaga criticized PMFTC for taking parts of the STSRO study out of context and using it to push its agenda of having the STRL reviewed or amended.

"The STSRO study's conclusions and recommendations were clear: there was a need for closer analysis of the data in that study. PMFTC's attempt to use the study as a supposed confirmation of what it has been saying all along-that there is illicit tobacco trade-is nothing more than an underhanded strategy to hit its local rival," Barzaga charged.

"All the data thus far on alleged illicit trade in the tobacco industry are those culled from studies and surveys commissioned by a foreign company that holds a grudge against a competitor. This can hardly be considered a basis for any kind of probe or review," he added.

The lawmaker also assailed PMFTC for consistently promoting its agenda of amending Republic Act 10351 or the STRL after it lost some of its market share to Mighty Corp.

"This is a classic case of a foreign monopoly trying to regain lost ground after the government opened the market to competition by leveling the playing field. This is what RA 10351 did, level the playing field," Barzaga explained.

"What I cannot accept, and what PMFTC should be made to understand, is that you do not regain lost ground by smearing and maligning Filipino companies who are competitors. And you do not try to hoodwink Congress into reviewing an otherwise successful law just because you lost some of your market share," he added.

RA 10351 was passed in 2012 after 14 years delay in Congress, overhauling the country's archaic excise tax system for alcohol and tobacco products or so-called sin products.

The law put in place a two-tier classification of tobacco products: low price and premium cigarettes. Enditem