Sin tax debate: Santiago cites high healthcare costs from tobacco-related diseases

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The sin tax bill that will increase taxes on alcohol and tobacco products could save as much as 90,000 lives and reduce the number of smokers in the Philippines by 10 percent, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said during plenary session Monday.

Santiago, during the resumption of Senate debates on the bill, said that an estimated 17.3 million Filipinos aged 15 and above smoke, with 13.8 million of the individuals smoking daily.

Citing a 2011 study by Doctor Antonio Dans and his group, she said that healthcare costs from the four major tobacco-related diseases: heart attack, stroke, lung cancer, and emphysema, was estimated to be at P188 billion.

She added that revenues in 2005 from the tobacco industry was only at P25.65 billion while in 2011 it was P26 billion.

“Looking at all these numbers, we see that the estimated healthcare costs are increasing tremendously through the years. Meanwhile, the revenues being generated by our government from the tobacco industry seem to be increasing but at a very slow pace,” Santiago said.

“From these figures alone, the Philippine government and the Filipino people are at a losing end. Healthcare costs far outweigh the revenues being generated from tobacco,” she said.

Senator Franklin Drilon had filed a substitute sin tax bill after Senator Ralph Recto gave up the Senate ways and means committee because his version that seeks P15 billion in additional revenues was met with criticism from the Department of Health, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Department of Finance.

Drilon’s version of the bill seeks P40 billion in additional revenues while Santiago’s version seeks P60 billion revenues.

Santiago said that her bill has greater health impact in the first year of implementation with 75,000 to 90,000 lives saved compared to Drilon’s bill which could only save 66,000 to 79,000 lives.

She also said that the estimated P188 billion healthcare cost from the four major tobacco-related diseases could be larger because it does not take into account the more than 40 other diseases such as cancers, occlusion of arteries to the leg, aneurysms, asthma attacks, that are obtained from smoking as well as from secondhand smoke.

Drilon pointed out that the highest consumption of alcohol and cigarettes was among the poorest of the poor and that the Philippines is among the countries in Southeast Asia with the cheapest tobacco prices.