CITING data from the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (Seatca), the ImagineLaw said on Thursday the country loses at least P260 billion annually to tobacco-related health-care cost and productivity losses.
“The tobacco industry is an economic liability…. Corporate social responsibility [CSR] and donations from tobacco companies are insignificant compared to the real costs of smoking,” Atty. Anna Bueno, ImagineLaw policy associate, said.
Aside from killing 117,000 Filipinos every year due to cigarettes and second-hand smoke, the group noted that tobacco-related healthcare costs took away 65.80 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2012, according to the law group.
And, while the country loses at least P260 billion yearly due to tobacco-related health-care costs, it cited Bureau of Internal Revenue data showing taxes collected from cigarettes amounted to P148.45 billion in 2020.
Despite these alarming numbers, the tobacco industry continues to sell and market a product that kills half of its users, according to the law group.
“In the time of a pandemic where it has been shown that smokers are at a greater risk of severe Covid-19 outcomes, tobacco companies’ CSR activities are nothing but distractions and a way to relax tobacco control policies,” Bueno also said.
Tobacco-related illnesses translate to financial losses in the work force, they added.
“These illnesses force an individual to temporarily or permanently stop going to work, contributing to major losses in human productivity,” the lawyer said adding, “The Philippines is losing so much to the tobacco industry. We are not only talking about billions of pesos, we are also losing dreams and aspirations. Imagine a father, who has just entered the productive years of his life, falling victim to a lung disease caused by smoking,” she said.
The law group believes tobacco companies should be held liable by the government for making smokers and secondhand smokers more susceptible to severe Covid-19 symptoms.
“Now, more than ever, the government needs to remain steadfast against moves by the tobacco industry to interfere with our public health policies. These policies should be upheld and their implementation strengthened. What we urgently need is a stronger public health system, not tactical donations that are only meant to take away our resources and lives,” she concluded.