Bacolod City – Visayas is fast catching up to be the region with the highest illegal cigarettes incidence at 6 percent, just a little shy of the 8 percent recorded in Luzon island, while the region of Mindanao is the epicenter of the illegal tobacco trade with an incidence of 45 percent, according to industry data shared by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA).
In the Visayas region, Negros Oriental was among those identified by NTA with illegal cigarettes incident of 3 percent, while Biliran province has the highest illicit trade incidence at 6 percent, followed by Eastern Visayas including Southern Leyte with 3.7, and Guimaras with 3 percent.
Zamboanga Sibugay leads the provinces in Mindanao with the highest cases of illegal tobacco at 87.5 percent. Industry data also points to areas in Mindanao where nine out of 10 cigarettes sold come from illegal sources.
In Luzon, the province of Bataan had the highest illegal tobacco incidence of 58.2 percent. Illegal cigarettes are transshipped from Malaysia and Indonesia, with Mindanao as the backdoor entry point, 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, priced between P3 to P4 per stick, compared to the P8.55 per stick of legitimate 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 (BIR) placed the annual losses from illicit tobacco trade at between P60 to P100 billion.
A new global study has also revealed that governments facing high incidences of illicit tobacco are hard pressed to acquire modern equipment and technology for their police and coast guard forces to fight global smugglers who are now using cutting-edge information and artificial technology (IT/AI) to elude detection.
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.
For the Philippines, the study said about 33 percent of adult Filipino smokers would be willing to still patronize illegal 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.
To give impetus to this call, 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. (Gilbert Bayoran via tvds)