TOBACCO does not only produce smoke and ash. For a family who runs a stall in Carbon market, it also produces diplomas.
In over four decades, the smell of dried tobacco leaves has become sort of an heirloom for the Gabutan family who has passed on the trade from one generation to the next, keeping it thriving in order to fund their daily needs and their lives.
Norma, 64, shared how she was able to pay for her children’s education using her income from selling dried tobacco leaves.
Their family, whose stalls are located beside The Barracks, is the only one selling the product in Carbon, Cebu City’s largest public market.
Norma said all her five children, who are now graduates of Custom Administration, Business Administration, Criminology, Maritime Transportation, and Nursing Aid, completed their studies because of their business.
“Puros sila handumanan sa Carbon, handumanan sa tabako,” said Norma.
(They’re all a remembrance of Carbon, a remembrance of tobacco.)
Challenges and tradition
The Gabutan siblings, all six of them, are vendors of tobacco, influenced by their mother, Violeta, who started selling the product when she was still in her 50s. Violeta is turning 90 years old.
Marissa, 66, the eldest among the six, has her stall right next to Norma’s.
She said despite the slow sales of tobacco, they have no plans of selling something else.
“This is what we grew up with, this is what we are used to,” said Marissa in Cebuano.
The family acknowledged the growing use of vapes, but said they are not discouraged and will continue the business their mother started in the 1980s. They believe the tobacco industry will thrive despite emerging alternatives for smokers.
“We really don’t take these as threats because tobacco has been here eversince. The customers we have, they’ve been using it and their children and grandchildren were also influenced to use it,” said Marissa.
Supply
The Gabutan’s tobacco supply comes from Mindanao, which is a challenge for them as they cannot personally check if these are of good quality prior to delivery.
“We can only check after the delivery, we would have no idea of the quality of leaves inside. Sometimes, we get many torn ones,” said Marissa.
Marissa said getting bad quality tobacco leaves means a deficit for them.
She also noted a rise in prices over the years.
There are no tobacco farms in Cebu.
“As far as we know, it is gone,” said Department of Agriculture 7 Director Angel Enriquez.
According to a Philippine News Agency report, National Tobacco Administration (NTA) Deputy Administrator for Operations Nestor Casela, during the International Tobacco Agricultural Summit in January 2025, said the tobacco industry continued to face the following challenges: Escalating costs of farm inputs, changing market demands, unavailability of labor force, climate change, aggressive campaign against smoking and tobacco control measures, increasing illicit trade, delayed release of excise tax, and limited release of funds.
In 2024, the NTA recorded a production of 45.4 million kilograms of tobacco.
Casela said the NTA aims to expand tobacco farming in the country by securing 4,000 additional hectares per year to boost overall production, but the limiting factor is the area.
‘Never ending’
Like their determination to continue and pass on the family trade to the younger generation of Gabutans, Marissa believes the tobacco industry will continue to thrive despite the alternatives.
She said the only time they will stop selling is when the supply stops, which she said is impossible.
“Di jod ni mahunong ang tabako kay tradisyon na man ni,” she said.
(This will never be gone. It is already rooted in tradition.) (JJL)