Higher taxes fail to curb smoking, says Drilon

Senator Franklin Drilon. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Cigarette consumption in the Philippines “has not gone down” despite the imposition of higher  taxes on tobacco and Senator Franklin  Drilon  thinks a graphic health warning is necessary.

Drilon, who was the chairman of the Senate committee on ways and means when Congress ratified the Sin Tax Reform  measure, said he was happy the government has been meeting its projected P33 billion in additional revenues for the first  year of implementation  of the  law.

For tobacco alone, the government projected a total increment  of P23.4 billion in  2013.

“If we’re looking at it from the finance side, then we’re happy that they’re meeting their targets. And  if you are looking at the health side, we are not so happy because the cigarette consumption has not gone down,” he said in an interview at the sidelines of the Department of Health’s Red Orchid Awards Ceremony held in  Pasay  City.

“I understand there is a lot of downgrading because of the higher taxes, there is shift to cheaper brands. But in the future, there will be a unitary tax, therefore there will be a one-tax rate for all kinds of cigarette, and so, this phenomenon will no longer happen,” he said.

Drilon  said he would  push  in the 16th  Congress  the passage of a measure  that would require a graphic health warning   for  tobacco and   cigarettes.

“We do not have that kind of regulation which requires graphic warning on packages and this is one of the challenges we are facing in the next Congress,” Drilon added.

“Like in other countries, there is a picture warning on each pack of cigarettes which is a demo of what smoking can do to people’s health. Such legislation is being opposed in our country at the moment, so we intend to push this legislation together with Senator Pia Cayetano in the 16th Congress,” he said.

“We believe that this legislation is essential for us to push our health programs particularly in relation to the campaign against tobacco smoking in our country,” he said.