CLARK – North and Central Luzon areas are now leading the Luzon region with the highest incidence of illicit tobacco at almost 13% incidence with Bataan province at the top with 58% illegal cigarettes.
Citing industry data, Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) President Jericho “Koko” Nograles said North and Central Luzon have an illicit incidence of 12.8% with South Luzon registering a 5.4% of illiit tobacco “and increasing.”
Nograles said Mindanao remains to be the epicenter of illicit tobacco trade in the country with 51% of cigaretts sold being illegal with Visayas contributing one percent of illegal tobacco but is “also increasing.”
The PTI president identified the most traded illicit cigarette brands in Luzon region as Modern, RGD, Carnival, New Two Moon and H&P Red.
“One hundred seventy-eight (178) illiit brands have been identified since 2018 and more than 60% of these brands are in Mindanao,” Nograles said during the Central Luzon leg of the National Press Club’s (NPC) “Media In The Time of Fakes” Regional Media Workshop held in Clark, Pampanga.
NPC conducted its first regional media conference in Cagayan de Oro City in Mindanao last September this year, tackling fake news and fake cigarettes.
Nograles stressed that unchecked “ilicit tobacco trade paves the way for other illicit trade in other products or commodities.”
“Illicit trade is a convergence of black market forces that is enabled by corruption and apathy. It’s a transnational crime that victimizes any jurisdiction with low-risk environments”the PTI president stressed.
Nograles called, among others, for intensified enforcement of relevant agencies such as the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Trade and Industry and the LGUS where illicit trade is going on unabated.
He said government must identify trade discrepancies, use data for investigation and prosecution and also for the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to be more active in the fight against illicit trade.
National Tobacco Administration (NTA) Regulation Manager Rohbert Ambros, who was also a speaker in the Central Luzon leg of the “Media In The Time of Fakes” workshop, said Pampanga and Nueva Ecija have also high illegal tobacco incidence with 20% and 19%, respectively, completing the “Big 3” bloc of Luzon provinces with high illicit tobacco trade including Bataan.
Ambros said a further break down of the Luzon illegal tobacco landscape will show that Zambales has 15%, Palawan with 13%, Pangasinan has 12% while Batangas in South Luzon has single digit incidence of 6%.
He said fake or illegal cigarettes are sold very cheap, with no tax stamp or with fake tax stamp, no graphic health warnings, do not bear text warnings in both Filipino and English and are priced P3 to P4 per stick compared to the P8.55 per stick of legit and tax-paid cigarette brands.
Industry data also reveal that the illegal cigarettes mainly come from Indonesia and Malaysia transported by sea and distributed by land with entry points in Zamboanga, General Santos, Davao and Palawan.
Government revenues from the tobacco industry have dramatically dropped from a record high tax collection of P176 billion in 2021 to P135 billion in 2023, which can be partly attributed to rampant tobacco smuggling.
Estimates by both Congress and the BIR placed the annual losses from illicit tobacco trade from a low of P60 billion to a high of P100 billion.
