A health expert on Tuesday urged lawmakers in Congress to reconsider proposals that seek to lower the excise tax rate for vapor products, warning that it would not benefit Filipinos.
In a press conference, Dr. Antonio Dans, a professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines Manila – College of Medicine, pleaded with lawmakers not to push through with such moves.
Dans – a clinical epidemiologist with specialization in cardiovascular diseases – noted that there are three pending bills in the House of Representatives that seek to lower taxes on vape products.
House Bill 5207’s author is House deputy speaker and Ilocos Sur 2nd District Rep. Kristine Singson-Meehan and 37 other lawmakers, while House Bill 5212 is authored by South Cotabato 2nd District Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez.
House Bill 5364 is authored by Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Abante Mindanao Party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr.
The three measures have common proposals, such as abolishing the excise tax distinction between nicotine salts and freebase nicotine and prescribing a differentiated and lower excise tax rate for vapor products.
The bills are still pending deliberations before the House ways and means committee.
“Nagmamakaawa kami sa kanila… Wala namang makikinabang sa pagbaba ng tax kung hindi ang vape industry at tobacco industry. Sa Pilipino, ang effect niyan mababawasan ang pambayad sa debt, dadami pa ‘yung magkakasakit,” Dans said.
(We are begging them… No one would benefit from the lower tax rate but the vape industry and the tobacco industry. For Filipinos, the effect would be less money to pay for debts and more people getting sick.)
GMA News Online is reaching out to the lawmakers for their comment and will publish it once available.
In a message to GMA News Online, Rufus Rodriguez said: “Will restudy the bill.”
Dans also pointed to an increase in Filipinos using vape. Recent data showed that one out of seven young Filipinos said they tried e-cigarettes or vapes at least once.
In 2023, another study revealed that there were one million new smokers and vape users aged 10 to 19 years old.
“Dumadami na ang nagve-vape… (There are now more people who are vaping…) Nasa ten-fold increase, more than eleven-fold increase,” Dans said.
He cautioned against marketing tactics that promote vape products as “less harmful.”
“Sabi nila it’s harm reduction kasi nicotine lang ang laman niya, and there are studies showing if you smoke then you take vape, malaki ang chance [na] may small effect siya that you will stop smoking. Ang problema, karamihan ng vapers, non-smoker… And when non-smokers vape, baliktad ang effect. They are likely to become smokers, [and] there’s a four-fold increase in the risk of smoking,” he said.
(They said it’s harm reduction because it just includes nicotine, and there are studies showing if you smoke then you take vape, there’s a large chance [that] there’s a small effect that you will stop smoking. The problem is that most vapers are non-smokers… And when non-smokers vape, there’s an opposite effect. They are likely to become smokers, [and] there’s a four-fold increase in the risk of smoking.)
Meanwhile, Dans said healthcare providers and experts support a total ban on vape products, adding that the government is actually losing funds in treating tobacco-related diseases.
“Kaya natin tinatax yung sigarilyo para bayaran yung sakit na dulot ng sigarilyo… Kung mawawala yung paninigarilyo, eh di mawawala yung P700 billion na pangangailangan natin [to treat those illnesses]. Self-correcting siya. Ganoon din sa vape. Kung wala yung vape, mawawala din yung sakit na dulot ng vape,” Dans said.
(That’s why we are taxing cigarettes, so we can pay for the illnesses caused by cigarettes. If smoking is eliminated, then we remove the P700 billion budget we need [to treat those illnesses]. It’s self-correcting. It would be the same with vape. If there’s no vape, then the illnesses caused by vape would be gone too.)
Earlier, the Department of Health (DOH) renewed its campaign against smoking and vaping by emphasizing the harm caused by nicotine and other chemicals in these products.
“Yung iba, sinasabi [na] safer ang vape than cigarette smoking. Ang lumalabas ngayon sa siyensa, sa agham, at sa pananaliksik, ay mas masama pa pala itong vaping. Kasi nga, madaming ibang chemicals na nagko-cause ng ibat-ibang epekto sa katawan,” Dans said.
(Others are saying [that] vape is safer than cigarette smoking. What we’re seeing now with science and research is that it’s worse than vaping. This is because there are a lot of chemicals that can cause different effects on the body.)
In 2024, the Philippines recorded its first vape-related death and found evidence of E-Cigarette and Vape Associated Injury (E-VALI).
The DOH is now pushing for plain packaging for cigarettes and e-vape products to deter users from buying these, as well as strengthening programs on smoking cessation. — JMA, GMA Integrated News
