A measure seeking to declare as "economic sabotage" the smuggling of tobacco products into the country has been approved on second reading in the House of Representatives.
Through a simple voice vote (ayes vs. nayes) in plenary, House Bill (HB) No.3917, which seeks to amend sections 3 and 4 of Republic Act (RA) No.10845, otherwise known as The Anti-agricultural Smuggling Act Of 2016, was passed on second reading Tuesday, Dec. 6.
Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Sandro Marcos; and Assistant Majority Leader and PBA Party-list Rep. Migs Nograles are the two main authors of the measure.
Under HB No.3917, raw or finished tobacco products will be considered as agricultural commodities; thus its importation will be declared as economic sabotage.
Marcos and Nograles earlier delivered their respective sponsorship speeches for the measure during Tuesday's plenary session.
“Government health policy objectives are distorted, since the smuggled products are unregulated, no graphic health warnings...There’s a fact that is not widely known but income from the so-called Sin Taxes of which revenues from the tobacco industry comprise of 58 percent or P94 billion of the total health budget," Marcos said.
"The truth therefore is that tax collection from tobacco products not only strenghtens funding for public infrastructure but has a direct impact as well on sustainable development goals and our universal health coverage as a country," he stressed.
Nograles, for her part, highlighted that the lack of a law against tobacco smuggling has resulted in huge losses--estimated at P26 billion annually--for the government. “The fact of the matter is simply this: there has not been and there is no law that specifically and directly penalizing tobacco smuggling under Philippine laws," she said.
"Particularly, there is nothing in No. 10845 that provides for the inclusion of tobacco, raw form or as finished product amongst the agricultural commodities amongst the crime of large-scale agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage," Nograles said.
"To this extent, government revenues are lost from smuggled, unregistered, and unregulated cigarettes which are being sold via container vans shipments resulting in an estimated P26 billion annually. If this continues to upsurge, it will affect our local tobacco industry and roughly 2.2 million kababayans (of our countrymen) will be affected," she warned.
The measure imposes on violators a prison term of 30 to 40 years, plus a fine of double the value of smuggled tobacco products, including the unpaid duties and taxes.