Press Release
November 26, 2018

PRIVILEGE SPEECH | SENATE BILL 1599 EXCISE TAX ON TOBACCO PRODUCTS

Good afternoon, Mr. President.

I would like to seize this opportunity to highlight a very important and alarming issue that our country is facing today. That is - THE DANGERS OF CIGARETTE-SMOKING.

Every year, there are about 20,000 smoking-related deaths in the Philippines. Out of the 7,000 chemicals that can be found in cigarettes, 69 are known to cause cancer.

Mr. President, nakaka-alarma ang mga datos ukol sa epekto ng paninigarilyo. Subalit, MAY MAGAGAWA PA PO TAYO.

This is the reason why I filed Senate Bill 1599 - An Act Raising the Excise Tax on Tobacco Products and Amending for the Purpose Pertinent Sections of the National Internal Revenue Code, As Amended. The main objective for the proposal of this bill is TO SAVE LIVES.

At this point, I would like to commend the efforts of Sen. Sonny Angara, Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, for conducting the hearing today on the bills pertaining the Tobacco Tax Increase. Nagpapasalamat po ako sa tulong ng ating mga kapwa senador para mapag-usapan ang isyung ito. Nagpapasalamat din ako sa suporta ng Department of Health and Department of Finance, kasama ng iba't-ibang advocacy groups. Before Republic Act No. 10351 or The Sin Tax Reform Act was passed in December 2012, the percentage of smokers in our population was always above 30% from 1998 to 2008.

Because of Republic Act No. 10351, the number of smokers decreased to 25% of the population in 2013, and further decreased to 23% in 2015 - A FIRST IN THE LAST TWO DECADES, according to the National Nutrition Survey. As a result, it was calculated that at least 70,000 deaths have been averted since year 2013. Notably, it was the youth and the poor who benefited from this. The National Nutrition Survey results show that between 2008 and 2015, there was a 26-28% reduction in the smoking prevalence among the poorest populations and a 40% reduction in the smoking prevalence among the Filipino youth aged below 20 years old.

This goes to show that INCREASING TOBACCO TAX WORKS!

HOWEVER, because of increasing incomes and population, it is expected that, WITHOUT ANY FURTHER INCREASE IN THE TOBACCO TAX, WE CAN EXPECT 1 MILLION NEW SMOKERS BY YEAR 2022.

Most of them will come from the most vulnerable sectors - the youth who are the hope of the future, and the marginalized whose lives we want to uplift. SUBALIT kung maipapasa natin ang ating panukalang Senate Bill 1599, tinatayang isang milyong Pilipino ang mababawas sa bilang ng mga naninigarilyo. From 13 million in year 2018, the number will drop to 12 million by year 2022.

In short, we need this bill to continue our gains in the past. Mr. President, SMOKING IS ALSO A GATEWAY TO DRUG USE. Based on scientific journals, it is estimated that tobacco use could be responsible for introducing drugs to one-third of users. Of the 4.8 million "ever users" of illicit drugs in 2015, about 1.68 million may have started with smoking tobacco.

Aside from the significant gains in health, THIS REFORM WILL ALSO GREATLY SUPPLEMENT MUCH-NEEDED REVENUES TO FINANCE SOCIAL SERVICES.

Before the Sin Tax Law, tobacco excise tax collections reached ?24-32 billion from 2008 to 2012.

In 2013, the first year after Sin Tax Law passage, tobacco excise tax collection soared to ?70.4 billion, and continued to increase to ?106.1 billion last year.

With the TRAIN Law, and for the first half of this year, incremental tobacco tax revenue was ?5.5 billion compared to the ?1.8 billion target of the Department of Finance.

As a result, the funds to minimize the impact of the increased tobacco tax on tobacco-growing LGUs more than doubled from a total of about ?5 billion annually from 2010 to 2014 to up to ?10 billion in 2015.

As a directly-related matter, the HEALTH BUDGET RECEIVED A SIGNIFICANT BOOST. The increase in tobacco tax collection helped government triple its health budget from ?44 billion in 2012 to ?171 billion in 2018.

YET, the uptake of ?106 billion in tobacco taxes still falls short of Philippine society's BURDEN FROM TOBACCO-RELATED DISEASES that totaled ?210 BILLION IN YEAR 2017.

This only considers the top four tobacco-related diseases - lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, coronary artery disease, and cardiovascular disease; among 38 other life-threatening diseases.

MOREOVER, the passage of the Universal Health Care Law, a landmark legislation championed by our colleagues in the Committee on Health, will require additional financing for its effective implementation.

Ang Sin Tax ang inaasahang pagkukunan ng bulto ng pondong kakailanganin para sa Universal Health Care.

THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE ESTIMATES THAT SENATE BILL 1599 WILL GENERATE ABOUT ?30-40 BILLION IN INCREMENTAL REVENUES THAT WE CAN USE TO FULLY REALIZE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE LAW.

Considering all of these, a survey by PULSE ASIA showed that 67% of the respondents agree that the tax on cigarettes should be increased.

Mr. President, hindi po ito katulad ng ibang buwis. Suportado po ito ng sambayanang Pilipino.

Tulungan natin ang mga mamamayang umiwas sa paninigarilyo. Tulungan din natin ang iba pa na naghahanap ng mabuting dahilan na tumigil na at huwag na bumalik pa sa paninigarilyo.

Hindi lang natin mababawasan ang bilang ng mga smokers, mapapabuti din natin ang kalusugan ng mga kababayan nating hindi naninigarilyo pero nakalalanghap ng second-hand smoke.

Kasama si Senator JV Ejercito na may kaparehas din na panukalang batas, tulungan natin ang ating mga kababayan.

Maraming salamat po.

News Latest News Feed