MANILA, Philippines- Napagtanto ng Senate committee on ways and means sa pamumuno ni Senador Win Gatchalian na hindi solusyon ang pagbabawas sa excise tax ng tobacco products sa pagsupog ng smuggling na nakapaloob House Bill 11360.
Nitong Lunes, binuksan ni Gatchalian ang pagdinig sa panukala sa pagsasabing: “Our findings during the three hearings is that the solution to curb illicit trade will not come from reduction of taxes, that is our finding. It will come from strengthening our enforcement, it will come from giving incentives to our enforcement agencies and also mobilizing our LGUs as well as of course, winning the cases.”
Base sa datos ng Bureau of Customs (BOC) at Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), sinabi ni Gatchalian na nagkaroon ng ilang libong pagsalakay ng naturang ahensya sa nakalipas na ilang taon ngunit lamang sa 20 kaso ang naisampa sa korte.
Ayon kay BIR Assistant Commissioner Jethro Sabariaga, dapat magkapareho ang buwis sa cigarette products at heated tobacco products pero dapat mas mataas ang sinisingil ng buwis sa vapor products dahil kakaiba ang consumption nito.
“One pack of cigarettes can be consumed in 300 puffs, the lowest number of puffs you can consume one vape product is 600 puffs,” ani Sabriaga.
Hinikayat din ni Gatchalian sa pagdinig ang Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) na sumunod sa opinyon ng Department of Justice (DOJ) na dapat dalawa lamang ang flavors ng vapes—plain menthol at plain tobacco.
“Ang goal kasi natin is to arrest the increase of vape use among the young. And one of the causes of that increase in vape use is the attractiveness of the flavor. Binebenta nila illegal na, iba-ibang flavor pa, talagang tataas yung paggamit ng mga bata,” paliwanag niya.
Pinag-aaralan pa umano ng DTI ang panukala, ayon kay DTI Assistant Secretary Marcus Valdez II .
Pinaboran naman ni Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Gloria Balboa ang panukala ni Gatchalian at inirekomenda ang pagbabawal sa maraming flavors.
“Based on a survey of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), from 2019 to 2023, vaping adults increased from 1.4% to 9.9%, while vaping adolescents jumped from 7.5% to 39.9%,” ayon kay Balboa.
Inirekomenda ng DOH na palakasin ang excise tax measure sa tobacco at vapor products saka inihayag ni Gathcalian na dapat magkaroon ng single tax rate sa lahat ng vapor products at ad valorem tax sa vaping devices.
Sinabi ni Independent health reform advocate Dr. Anthony Leachon na, “The win-win solution is actually to increase the tax rates both for tobacco and also for vape since the target population for the vape will be the younger population.”
“If we start increasing the tax rates at the same level of rigor with the vape, then we actually can prevent the onslaught of noncommunicable diseases,” dagdag niya.
Umapela si Philippine College of Physicians President Dr. Imelda Mateo kay Gatchalian na ibasura ang House Bill 11360.
“What we are after in the Committee is to combat and eliminate illicit trade,” ayon kay Gatchalian.
“And in those hearings we did not see that lowering down taxes can combat illicit trade effectively,” paliwanag pa ng senador.
“Habang ako po ang Chairman ng Committee on Ways and Means, hindi ko papayagan na maipasok yang cigarette component in the bicameral conference committee,” giit niya.
“With all due respect to our counterparts, and let me put this on record, to our House counterparts, kung yan ang ii-insist nila, mag-usap na lang tayo sa 20th Congress because we will not allow that.” Ernie Reyes
