JUMEIRAH, Abu Dhabi—Philip Morris International (PMI) President for South and Southeast Asia Frederic de Wilde lauded the Philippines for being a “champion country” in tobacco harm reduction and pushing for smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes.
 

PMI President for South and Southeast Asia Frederic de Wilde speaks to Philippine media during an interview after the Technovation Summit held in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Raymund Antonio/MANILA BULLETIN)

Speaking to Philippine media after the “Technovation: Smoke-free by PMI Abu Dhabi Edition” event held here on Wednesday, Dec. 11, the official cited the Philippines for its current regulations on cigarette-smoking alternatives and compared it with other governments that PMI had difficulties engaging with.
 

“To me, Philippines is the example of a champion country. A country that has embedded in the regulation tobacco harm reduction. A country that has created separate categories for these products that are very different from the ones that are combusted, the cigarettes,” he said.
 

The PMI official also praised the Philippines for imposing excise taxes on the externalities of tobacco and alcohol products.
 

“Additionally, I have to say, not only Philippines regulators have done a great job to adhere to this new and progressive way of looking at the tobacco business, Philippines also has been pretty vocal internationally. It's not only thinking about their own smokers. There is a lot of work to be done there,” De Wilde added.
 

PMI’s presentation entitled “Very Good Key City Growth Across Global Markets” showed that for the company’s third quarter report for 2024 in the Philippines, PMI’s IQOS has four percent of the market share in areas where the product is present.
 

This was an uptick of 1.1 points from the period of June to August 2023.
 

De Wilde, for his part, underscored the role that the Philippines must play in “promoting this progressive thinking towards other countries.”
 

“We need more countries like the Philippines to go and promote it. Because very often you have Western countries going to developed countries and try to show what they are doing,” he said.
 

“When it comes from a significant country like the Philippines that can talk one-to-one with other developing countries, the impact is much higher,” he explained.
 

The official praised the efforts by the Philippine government “to adhere to this new way of looking at the tobacco industry” and to promote a regulation that will encourage smokers to choose smoke-free alternatives.
 

But De Wilde has also set a new target for PMI’s Philippine market—the C1 and C2 classes—because the company is “doing very well in the A-B class” for its IQOS and ILUMA products, which he admitted are at a “high cost.”

A showcase of IQOS ILUMA i, the latest and most advanced generation of PMI’s heat not burn devices at the Technovation Summit. (Raymund Antonio/MANILA BULLETIN)

To do this, PMI launched its heat-not-burn tobacco heating system Bonds & Blends in 2022.
 

According to De Wilde, the device consists of a technology that avoids combustion, providing the same benefits as ILUMA or IQOS ILUMA but with a more affordable price tag and ease of use.
 

He also recognized the challenge of switching smokers to just one platform since “some people might prefer more e-cigarettes” while others “are extremely interested in the nicotine pouches.”
 

“So coming with a portfolio of products at different price points, I believe this is the right, what we call, multi-category approach that will help us to accelerate the adoption of these products amongst the smoking population. That's a social approach,” he said.
 

In his keynote speech on the “Technology and Innovation: Driving Force Behind Global Solutions,” De Wilde noted that government policies and regulatory frameworks have a “profound impact” on the development of technology and its adoption.
 

“Inconsistent or lack of appropriate regulations can create barriers to entry, and basically in our case, this results in that smokers continue to smoke,” he stated.
 

During the third quarter of 2024, PMI’s global report showed that emerging markets represented 45 percent of the total markets where smoke-free products were for sale. This is a “significant increase” from merely 15 percent in 2015.
 

The official, who addressed various stakeholders and media representatives from across the region, put the work on governments as they “have the power to change this paradigm.”
 

“We see some good progress where governments are establishing appropriate regulatory frameworks for smoke-free products. In others, we keep on engaging, and we are committed to make the tobacco harm reduction a priority for governments,” he stressed.
 

In the Philippines, HEETS and TEREA consumable sticks for IQOS, IQOS devices, Bonds and Blends, and oral nicotine product Zyn are available in select stores nationwide and online.
 

HEETS, in particular, have been made available to users aged 18 years old and above since April 24, 2020.