The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has seized P132.56 million worth of fake cigarettes in the first quarter of the year, data from the agency showed.
Rep. Jericho Jonas Nograles, chairman of the technical working group of the house ways and means committee on the illicit tobacco trade and agricultural smuggling, in a statement cited unemployment, a decrease in income in households and hampered law enforcement during the pandemic as among the factors that contributed to the increased proliferation of illegal cigarettes in the country.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the BOC figures show a combined tax loss of P4.73 billion from 2019 to 2021. Broken down, the figure rose from just P406.9 million in 2019, to P3.1 billion in 2020 and P1.21 billion last year.
Nograles confirmed in a webinar the increase in the illegal cigarette trade in the country in the more than two years since the country had been put in lockdown since March 2020.
Citing a Euromonitor International report, Nograles said about 13 percent of the total cigarettes sold in the country are illegal.
“What happened in the last few years? Number one: unemployment and a decrease in income have put pressure on the household budget. It’s difficult to stop smoking, but it’s easy to spend money. People want to save money amidst rising prices of commodities and decreasing household income,” Nograles explained at a webinar mounted by the National Tobacco Administration.
Because of prolonged COVID-19 lockdowns, efforts by law enforcement agencies tasked to handle the illegal tobacco trade were also hampered.
“We have limitations because of lack of personnel. We were not able to operate on a massive implementation because we cannot go into some areas that are under lockdown,” said Beverly Milo, BIR director.
