• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Visayas is fast catching up as the region with the highest illegal cigarettes incidence of six percent, a little shy of the eight percent recorded in Luzon.
Mindanao is the big epicenter of illegal tobacco trade with an incidence of 45 percent, according to industry data shared by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA).
In the Visayas, Negros Oriental was among those identified by NTA with illegal cigarettes incident of three percent, while Biliran province has the highest illicit trade incidence at six percent, followed by Eastern Visayas including, Southern Leyte with 3.7 percent, and Guimaras, three percent.
Illegal cigarettes are transhipped from Malaysia and Indonesia with Mindanao as the backdoor entry points, according to NTA.
Industry data also points to areas in Mindanao where nine out of 10 cigarettes sold come from illegal sources.
Smuggled and non-tax paid cigarettes are being sold openly in stores and other public areas all over the Philippines and priced between P3 and P4 per stick compared to the P8.55 per stick of legit and tax-paid cigarette brands.
Government tax revenues from the tobacco industry have dramatically fallen from a record high of P176 billion in 2021 to P135 billion in 2023, which can be partly attributed to the rampant tobacco smuggling.
Estimates by both Congress and the Bureau of Internal Revenue placed the annual losses from illicit tobacco trade between P60 billion and P100 billion.
The global study entitled “Fighting The Dark Underworld” showed that in the Philippines, more and more adult smokers are now finding it “normal” or acceptable to buy illicit cigarettes.
This has prompted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to order all government agencies to intensify the fight against the illicit tobacco trade to recover lost revenues and protect the country’s tobacco farmers.
The President recently signed into law the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Law, which classifies select farm produce as protected commodities including tobacco products whose smuggling, hoarding and profiteering will constitute an act of economic sabotage that carries stiffer penalties including a non-bailable offense. | GB
