A DABAWENYO lawmaker has filed a measure seeking to declare the smuggling of tobacco products into the country as “economic sabotage.”
Assistant Majority Leader and Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Partylist Representative Margarita Ignacia "Migs" Nograles, along with Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte First district Rep. Ferdinand Alexander "Sandro" Marcos, filed House Bill No. 3917 amending Sections 3 and 4 of Republic Act (RA) 10845, otherwise known as the “Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016.
The bill was passed on second reading on Tuesday, December 6.
Under HB No.3917, raw or finished tobacco products will be considered as agricultural commodities; thus its importation will be declared as economic sabotage.
In her speech, Nograles 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 penalizes tobacco smuggling under Philippine laws,” the PBA lawmaker said.
She added that the RA 10845's non-inclusion of tobacco, raw form or as finished product amongst the agricultural commodities is "amongst the crimes of large-scale agricultural smuggling as economic sabotage."
“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.
In the Bill's explanatory note, some places in the country namely Zamboanga del Sur and Misamis Occidental, it is estimated that six out of 10 cigarettes are being sold in the market that come from illegal sources.
Lawyer Erastus Sandin Austria, Bureau of Customs-Port of Davao (BOC-Davao), in a previous SunStar Davao report dated October 7 that the bureau has seized around P85 million worth of smuggled cigarettes as of October 2022, making it the highest worth of smuggled goods for this year.
Meanwhile, Marcos said that tax collection from tobacco products not only strengthens funding for public infrastructure but has a direct impact as well on sustainable development goals and our universal health coverage as a country.
The bill, still subject for third and final reading on the next regular session, 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. RGL