Lawmakers belonging to the Northern Alliance said that re-electionist senators should carefully weigh their vote on the sin tax reform bill because it will be the most important election issue in tobacco-producing provinces.

Rep. Victor Ortega of La Union province, president of the alliance, said that it is but natural for tobacco farmers to reject candidates who will vote to pass a measure that will sharply increase the excise tax of cigarettes.

“Of course they will support those who have been considerate of their plight in making a decision on the sin tax bill,” Ortega said.

“It is but natural for these tobacco farmers to say they will reject senatorial bets who will support a sin tax bill version that will adversely affect their plight. On the other hand, you can expect these farmers to support candidates who sympathized with them in the fight against hefty excise tax rates,” he added.

Ortega said that the voting power of tobacco farmers should not be undermined, since the eight major tobacco-producing provinces had at least 4.5 million voters during the last senatorial election.

In the Ilocos region, which comprises the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan and La Union, have about 300,000 tobacco farmers, Ortega said.

“This could easily translate to one million votes if voting members of their families are included,” he added.

Ortega said that their group at the House of Representatives will await the final tax version of the Senate to guide them in deciding their next move.

“We will see how the Senate will act. We will wait and see which version will prevail. We hope it will be much better than the House version. The proposal of Sen. [Ralph] Recto is definitely more acceptable,” the lawmaker said.

Another northern Luzon representative who refused to be identified said that they have no choice but to support the stand of their constituents against the senators who will vote in favor of the excise tax bill “or we might be rejected too in the coming elections.”

Rep. Carlos Padilla of Nueva Vizcaya province, one of the 21 representatives who voted against House Bill (HB) No. 5727, said that the excise tax bill is certainly an election issue in tobacco-producing provinces.

“It is inevitable that these affected sectors will manifest their unfavorable sentiment against re-electionist senators who will support a tax bill that imposes drastic and immediate increase in the rates,” Padilla added.

The former House minority leader said that he and the other solons who voted against HB 5727 are fighting for reasonable excise tax rates, and a considerable transition period to avoid job displacements.

“A drastic hike in excise tax rates will be inimical to the tobacco industry which provides livelihood to so many tobacco farmers and other industry workers, and even small entrepreneurs,” Padilla said.

Rep. Rodolfo Albano of Isabela province agreed with Padilla.

“Certainly, any bill that would affect the livelihood of tobacco farmers will be taken as an issue against those lawmakers supporting such bill,” Albano said.

The eight major tobacco-producing provinces are Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Abra, Cagayan, Isabela and Mindoro. Other provinces that produce tobacco are Mt. Province, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Capiz, Iloilo, Leyte, Cebu, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Davao, Zamboanga del Sur, Maguindanao, Cotabato and Saranggani.

Other crops
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, however, believes that it is necessary to pass the sin tax bill because it will not only raise additional revenue but will also help farmer to shift to other “healthy and revenue generating crops.”

Santiago said that as a signatory to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the Philippines should raise sin taxes and reduce smoking prevalence.

She said that nobody has contested the fact that 240 Filipinos die from tobacco-related diseases every day.

Tobacco farmers and workers have been very active in their campaign against the sin tax reform bill, claiming that passage of the bill would render millions of workers and farmers jobless.

But Santiago allayed these fears, saying that tobacco farmers can get 15 percent of the incremental revenues that they can use to look for alternative crops aside from tobacco.