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.