MANILA, Philippines - An anti-tobacco advocate is seeking a health promotion law to institutionalize campaigns on the harmful effects of smoking.
Health promotion must be institutionalized to ensure the continuity of the campaign despite a change in leadership in government, according to Emer Rojas, New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP) president.
"As we are heading towards unitary sin tax by next year, we have to take advantage of the full benefits of the tobacco levy by increasing capacity to raise the people’s awareness on healthy lifestyles,” he said.
Poor Filipinos would mostly benefit from the law since tobacco consumption is higher among those in the lower socio-economic class compared to developed countries, Rojas said.
"Increase in taxes imposed on the tobacco industry must be used on education and awareness so as to reduce if not to prevent the rise in non-communicable diseases,” he said.
In 2012, the same year that the sin tax became law, the prevalence of smoking among the poorest of the poor was at 40 percent and 25 percent among the rich, Rojas said, ca survey of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.//
