Tobacco pals, foes square off

A vendor sells cigarettes at a supermarket in Quezon City in this file photo. A proposed bill restructuring the excise tax on tobacco and alcohol products is seen to generate some P60 billion, according to President Benigno Aquino III, who is pushing for the passing of the sin tax reform bill. AFP/JAY DIRECTO

Health advocates and representatives of the tobacco industry faced off at a Senate committee hearing on proposed increases in sin taxes earlier this week.

Emerito Rojas addressed the committee on ways and means in his robotic voice, telling senators he had his vocal cords removed due to stage-four laryngeal cancer.

Rojas, an engineer, identified himself as a global cancer ambassador, designated by the American Cancer Society. “So I represent the voice of the victims of tobacco here in the Philippines as well as around the world.”

“The World Health Organization identifies smoking as the single most preventable cause of death in the world and raising tobacco taxes, which will consequently raise cigaret prices, is one of the most effective ways of reducing consumption and thereby reducing premature death,” Rojas argued. Norman Bordadora