Volunteers in this file photo place a huge mock-up cigarette pack showing a close up photograph of a cancer patient during an anti-smoking rock concert in Quezon City on May 16. AFP/ROMEO GACAD
MANILA, Philippines—Anti-smoking lawmakers pushing for graphic-based health warning on cigarette packs are poised to file a bill which could be the worst nightmare of tobacco firms: to go for plain packaging instead.
Valenzuela Representative Magtanggol Gunigundo said if the firms continue to resist House Bill 3364, a law which proposes the use of prominent, colored and graphic-based health warnings on cigarette packs, they would call for plain packaging instead.
Gunigundo explained that if the law would make plain packaging of cigarette products mandatory, it would completely deter tobacco firms from using their products as advertising tools, which could hurt their sales. "It is the worst case scenario to them," he said.
Authors of the bill include Representatives Anna York Bondoc, Arthur Pingoy Jr., Teodoro Casińo, Neil Tupas Jr. and Jose Antonio Roxas, who recently attended a study tour in Thailand to learn from their counterparts on how to wage the legislative battle in pushing for the bill.
"We can file another bill that would call, not for graphic warnings, but for plain packaging and banning advertisements at points of sale ... and hopefully they will compromise and agree to picture-based warning. That's the way we will negotiate on the bargaining table," said Gunigundo.
The lawmakers also agreed to push for a national body called "Pinoy Health Foundation" that would exclusively manage and use the 2.5-percent excise tax on tobacco sales—which according to them remains stagnant in the national treasury—for anti-smoking advocacies.
"The 2.5-percent tax must go to the Department of Health (DOH), but it is still with the national treasury. We will have to find out what is happening to the money," Bondoc pointed out during an interview with reporters.
The proposed body will be based on the Thaihealth Promotion Foundation, which plays a major role in anti-smoking tobacco programs successfully implemented in Thailand.
The foundation is also managing two percent of "sin taxes" collected from tobacco and alcohol, which funds public health campaigns and health researches.
Thailand is the fourth country in the world to win legislative grounds over giant tobacco firms in mandating graphic-based health warnings on cigarette packs.
Cigarette packs sold in the Philippines for over 20 years have been carrying text-based health warnings on them but have failed to put a dent on the growing population of Filipino smokers.
According to the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, the Philippines accounts for 16.62 percent of the more than 124.69 million adult smokers in Southeast Asia, making it the second largest country of smokers in the region—next to Indonesia at 46.16 percent.
But the legislators are having a hard time pushing for the bill being resisted by their counterparts from tobacco-producing Northern Luzon.
"The problem is their fear that with picture-based warning, there will be a drastic reduction in excise taxes, and that will affect the percentage of revenues that is supposed to go back to their provinces under Republic Act 7171," said Gunigundo.
Bondoc suggested that "scary scenarios of people going to starve in the region" must be countered with hard facts.
"There is lack of knowledge because we don't have data [of how dependent they are on tobacco planting]. But we have already showed that it's not true that they are going to starve when we push for this bill," she said.
Copyright 2009 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![Zoom Image](javascript:popwin("http://images.inquirer.net/media/newsinfo/breakingnews/nation/images/pic-08180838110974.jpg", 640, 480))
Zoom
Read Full Story
