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‘Tobacco is not essential to food security’: Sen. Pia S. Cayetano, a staunch advocate for strengthening tobacco control efforts in the Philippines, contends that tobacco is not a product that is essential to food security. During Wednesday’s plenary session, Cayetano congratulated Sen. Cynthia A. Villar for her patience in shepherding Senate Bill No. 2432, or the proposed Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act, which the former said is a very important measure. However, Cayetano wanted to put on record her position against the inclusion of tobacco in the list of products to be considered essential to food security. “I do not want smuggling of any kind, whether it is fruits, vegetables or tobacco. But tobacco is a class of its own because as I have said before it is not a product essential to food security,” she said Wednesday, December 6, 2023. (Jansen Romero/OS Cayetano / Senate Social Media Unit)