The Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) on Thursday said that majority of Filipino smokers won’t kick the habit due to the availability of more affordable smuggled tobacco products.
Former Rep. Jericho Nograles, who is now PTI president, told the Senate Committee on Ways and Means during its hearing on three resolutions in connection with foregone government revenues due to smuggling and illicit trade of excisable products, that instead of quitting smoking, smokers now resort to buying the more affordable illicit tobacco products.
“So, the actual alternative to high-priced tobacco is illicit tobacco. So, if this is present and readily available, then the tendency is to shift because of limited disposable income. So, it just makes sense,” Nograles said.
Nograles said he supports the suggestion of the Action for Economic Reforms to intensify government operations against all sorts of smugglers, including that of tobacco, but the country’s porous southern backdoor makes it hard for law enforcers to stop the illicit trade.
“The surveys and estimates show that 51 percent of Mindanao is already illicit. That’s already the majority. Can you imagine the second biggest island of our country? The revenue leak there is big and overwhelming,” he added.
He said another factor that allows smugglers to continue their illegal activities is the low prosecution rate.
“If there is no successful prosecution, then what’s there to stop?” he said.
Nograles cited an instance when the court dismissed the cases filed against the owners of a warehouse in Guiguinto, Bulacan that the Bureau of Customs with support from other law enforcement agencies, raided last November.
Aside from various allegedly smuggled items, reports said that millions of pesos worth of dried tobacco leaves placed in sacks and cigarette filter rods were also recovered during the operation.
The court dismissed the cases filed since “they did not accept the evidence,” Nograles said.
“I think that’s a big blow to the campaign against smuggling and the government is hurting. That big raid in Bulacan happened after the signing of the Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act which stipulates that if you are caught with P10 million (worth of smuggled goods), that’s already non-bailable,” he added.
Nograles said he inquired from the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) and found out that the recovered tobacco and machines for manufacturing cigarettes were not recorded by the agency.
He said the prosecutors may want to review the case.
“If there are no records in the NTA maybe we should legally assume that it is smuggled, that the machine is smuggled, that the lead used in the manufacturing plant in Bulacan is smuggled as well,” he said.
“Now, if we want to really scare smugglers, prevent them from selling to the youth, we do have to toughen prosecution, to say that this government and Congress, are very serious in stopping tax leakage. I’d have to say, the source will always be there so long as the market is there,” he added.
