Interpellation with Sen. Joel Villanueva on 5th Dirty Ashtray Award received by the Philippines
February 14, 2024

*Period of Interpellations*

[Sen Villanueva]

Mr President, my staff is looking up the number for the death and serious health effects of tobacco on people, whether it's worldwide or nationwide. But I have something else to say in addition to that. WHO estimates that more than 8 million people die prematurely yearly from tobacco use. This is the latest available WHO estimates as of November 2023.

I am not sure if we have Philippine data.

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And then I have a local... Tobacco was the highest risk factor driving the most deaths and disabilities combined in 2019. I repeat, the highest risk factor. In other words, it's not obesity. It's not having a particular condition. Nakadagdag ang tobacco use sa mga death and disability data that we have. It was estimated that tobacco use accounted for more than 112,000 deaths or 27% of all deaths in the Philippines. Of tobacco deaths, 96,000 or 85% were attributed to smoking. And 22,000 or 19% were secondhand smoking. So when a member of the family, and usually it's a parent, is smoking, pwede hong magkaroon ng lung disease or tobacco-related disease ang mga anak or even an elderly living in that family, kahit siya mismo ay hindi naninigarilyo. And if his honor would recall, I would often recount my own experience as a pregnant young lawyer, forced to attend board meetings among a smoking group. And nobody even bothered to ask, "are you okay, do you mind?"

But thankfully, we passed that law, hindi pa tayo senator... when the law was passed prohibiting indoor smoking. So at least we can honestly protect the younger generation of women who are pregnant, and for that matter, kahit hindi naman women. But the numbers are there. And remember, these are just reported cases. Paano pa yung mga probinsya sa malalayong lugar na hindi na na-autopsy o hindi na nakarating sa ospital? I am sure marami pa yan, Mr. President.

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Yes, Mr President. And if I may give a short response to the Majority Floor Leader's data that he shared with us, yung iba't ibang sakit na binanggit niyo na nakakamatay, hindi ho ba yan eh kadalasan, those people who are afflicted are those people who come to us who also ask for financial assistance, medical assistance, and then pagdating ng budget hearing, and our former Chairman of the Committee on Health is now our presiding officer, Sen. JV Ejercito, we always insert more access to healthcare, whether it's funding for the hospitals, funding for the medication. Nilalagay ho natin lahat yan doon, diba? But if you think about it, cancer meds, I am assuming, kasama din diyan ang lung cancer. So, ang gusto ko nga, itong lahat ng agencies na ito na walang kinalaman sa proteksyon ng health, and unless they prove to me that they stood up there to support further protecting the health of the Filipino youth, sa kanila ko tatanggaling yung budget na yun mula ngayon. Yung budget ng Department of Agriculture? Sige, I will wait to see the transcripts kung ano itinulong nila sa health at nag-attend pa sila ng conference na ito. Si Department of Trade and Industry. Sige, ano tinulong mo sa health? Kasi tatanggalin ko talaga sa kanila yun dahil hindi na nga kayo nakatulong, nakasira pa kayo. Lalo niyo pa pinalala ang problema dito.

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Mr President, the sad reality is, the Vape Law, which amended the Sin Tax Law, governs. And so this law basically gives DTI the jurisdiction over tobacco related products, including vapes. And so it would be the DTI who would give permits to all of these companies that are either retailing or distributing these companies. And now, when DTI holds the hand of the tobacco industry and goes to a conference that is trying to strengthen health measures, and we have reports na sumama pa sila doon sa grupo na ayaw mapasa yung article 9 and 10, which is really just requiring that i-report ng mga tobacco and vape companies yung laman ng vape products nila, well then I think DTI has gone way beyond the jurisdiction that the weak law gave them, the weak law said that you can regulate. I am not happy with it pero sige, be my guest, regulate it. Eh tapos nakipag-holding hands kayo, sinamahan niyo pa ang tobacco industry para pigilan ang information na kailangan mailabas sa publiko para the public knows, para yung mga parents, alam nila ito ang nilalanghap ng anak mo, o yung isang nagmamahal na nanay, pwede niya sabihin sa kanyang partner, Valentine's pa man din ngayon, na huwag kang lumipat sa vapes na yan, kasi ito pala ang mga produkto nyan, nakakasama.

Nag-abala si DTI? Sige nga, patingin, meron kayong ginawang ganun? So that's where we are. But I also have to report that we have a few measures that... I think some of them have been filed, but there are a few more that we want to take up so that we can strengthen this. Sadly, I don't know how this will prosper. But I am pretty sure I trust that I have the Senate's support, but beyond the Senate, hindi ko na po alam kung makukuha natin the support that the Filipino people need so we can protect their health.

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Thank you so much, Mr President, Majority Floor Leader, for your questions that allow us to spread into the record the gravity of this situation, Mr. President.

Thank you.