Senate probe on rising incidence of smuggling of excisable products sought

MANILA, Philippines — A congressional inquiry into the rising incidence of illegal trade involving excisable products has been sought in the Senate in a bid to arrest revenue leakages and protect the health of consumers.

The proposed probe was made through Senate Resolution No. 566 earlier filed by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on ways and means.

The government is currently imposing an excise tax on certain products such as alcohol, tobacco, cigarette, vapor, and petroleum, as well as automobiles, non-essential goods and services, sweetened beverages, and mineral products.

“Smuggling of these products is fast becoming rampant and deprives the government of much-needed revenues necessary to finance various programs and projects and sustain economic growth and development,” Gatchalian lamented in a statement on Monday.

“The rising incidence of illicit trade on excisable products also poses a great risk to the health of consumers when substandard products are manufactured using dangerous and unapproved ingredients,” he added.

Citing a study, the senator noted that as much as 42.8% of total cigarette consumption in the country from 2009 to 2017 came from illicitly traded tobacco products.

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The country’s fiscal losses from illicit alcohol, meanwhile, amounted to US$438 million in 2016 while the tax revenue losses due to fuel smuggling or misdeclaration for the same period amounted to P26.87 billion, he also said.

Gatchalian thus stressed the need “to promptly assess the scale of illicit trade in the country.”

“Adjust, if necessary enforcement agencies’ priorities and border restrictions, and adopt and deploy up-to-date methods and technologies in order to counter illegal trade of excisable products,” he said in the resolution.

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