Valenzuela lawmaker: Illicit trade raps not Congress’ concern

Valenzuela 2nd District Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo: Mere hype and propaganda. Photo from congress.gov.ph/

MANILA, Philippines–A lawmaker said allegations of illicit trade in the tobacco industry are mere hype and propaganda raised by some disgruntled industry players and should not be a concern of Congress or other government agency.

“All the data thus far on the alleged illicit trade in the tobacco industry are those culled from studies and surveys commissioned by a private company that holds a grudge against a competitor. This can hardly be considered a basis for any kind of probe or review,” Valenzuela 2nd District Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo said.

“Corporate battles shouldn’t be a national concern unless laws are being broken. But in the case of the tobacco industry, we haven’t seen any official document or data to support the allegations of illicit trade,” he said.

Gunigundo cautioned against falling prey to “corporate propaganda” after a foreign manufacturer called for third-party monitoring of the production facilities of tobacco companies in the country.

“We shouldn’t even be entertaining these things. We cannot and should not give credence to such proposals. They are self-serving and manipulative, and the people pushing it must think we Filipinos are stupid,” Gunigundo said.

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares has rejected the proposal outright, saying there was no need for it. She also said the proposal violates the country’s National Revenue Code, stating that only the commissioner and the officers can be involved in excise tax functions and do functions of surveillance (NIRC Section 270 in relation to Section 278).

Henares said the real issue was how to preserve the gains of the sin tax reform law which Congress passed in 2012.

During the first year of implementation, the government’s total collection of P61.62 billion came from tobacco products alone, which exceeded the BIR’s original target of P51.65 billion by 20.94 percent.

BIR records also showed that in the first quarter of 2014 the government’s excise tax collections from tobacco products have already reached P11.34 billion, exceeding the target of P10.85 billion by 4.5 per cent.

On the other hand, the sin tax law has been successful as a health measure as a national survey by the Department of Health (DOH) and Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported that smoking prevalence especially among the youth and poor has dropped significantly.