Philippines: Sin Tax Bill to Benefit Us Too - Muslims

Source from:  Philippine Daily Inquirer  11/29/2012

The National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), the agency mandated to cater to the needs and ensure the welfare of Muslims in the country, has expressed support for the sin tax bill on tobacco pending in Congress. NCMF Secretary Mehol Sadain said approval of the sin tax bill would definitely benefit Muslim Filipinos as 85 percent of the revenue from tobacco products would be used to improve health care delivery, especially in impoverished areas in Mindanao. Muslims refrain from partaking of alcoholic products. "We support the Aquino administration's goal of raising taxes for tobacco products as a measure to increase government funds for health service," said Sadain in a statement. He said that for many years, the people in Mindanao had been suffering from a weak health service delivery, including dilapidated hospitals that lacked the equipment to treat patients. "Additional revenue from the sin tax would surely help address those problems," said Sadain. Aside from improving hospitals, Sadain said Muslims would benefit from the Department of Health's plan to hire thousands of doctors and medical personnel to be deployed to hospitals and clinics where there are no health workers. Enditem