VIGAN CITY, Ilocos Sur: Thousands of Virginia tobacco farmers from various municipalities in Ilocos along with provincial officials trooped to the provincial capitol to protest against a House bill seeking to restructure the excise tax collected from alcohol and tobacco which they say will kill the industry.

Tobacco farmer leader Benjamin Sarmiento said that House Bill 5727, authored by Rep. Joseph Emilio A. Abaya (1st district, Cavite), seeking to restructure the excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products is not favorable to the tobacco industry.

The Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council tagged the said tax proposal as a priority bill.

“If the bill will be passed and approved, the tax for locally made high-quality cigarette will be increased from P12.00 per pack to P30.00 per pack until 2014 while the premium imported cigarettes would only increase from P28.30 per pack to P30.00 per pack. This means that the importers would greatly benefit from this bill considering that only 40 percent from the total volume of cigarette produced in the country are of high quality and the remaining 60 percent are low quality,” he explained.

“Thus, if this bill will be approved, why should I buy locally produced cigarettes if it has the same price with the imported cigarettes? The saddest part is that, the market and demand of our low quality tobacco will probably dramatically fall and this will eventually lead to the death of our local tobacco industry,” he stressed.

Sarmiento led at least 5,000 Virginia tobacco farmers from Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte in a rally in front of the prov`ü„ial capitol of Ilocos Sur asking President Benigno Noynoy Aquino 3rd to disapprove the proposed law as it is detrimental to the tobacco industry.

“We are also appealing to Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, our provincemate, to take further study into the impact of the HB 5727,” Sarmiento added.

Meanwhile, provincial officials led by Vice Governor Deogracias Victor B. Savellano expressed their strong opposition to the proposed HB 5727 which contains the Department of Finance (DOF) proposal for a unitary excise tax system.

“We do not agree and cannot accept HB 5727 of Rep. Abaya, which is being pushed by Secretaries Butch Abad and Finance Secretary Purisima. HB 5727 will destroy the tobacco industry and kill the livelihood of our people,” the local officials said in their letter forwarded to Davao Rep. Isidro Ungab, chairman of the House committee on ways and means.

In support, the local officials passed a resolution in support to the current excise tax structure on alcohol and tobacco products saying it allows these sectors to grow while generating a more stable and predictable revenue for the government.

The resolution expressed the unequivocal support of the local officials for the sub-committee Report No. 6 of Ilocos Sur Representative Eric Owen G. Singson Jr. which responds to the government’s call for additional revenues without sacrificing the livelihood of some nine million people engaged in the alcohol and tobacco industries.

Under the approved subcommittee report, increases of the tax rates ranging from four to 10 percent will be imposed on the four tax tiers over five years with the lowest tier absorbing 10 percent. The increase will be done every other year over the five-year period.

In their resolution, the Ilocos Sur officials assailed HB 5727 as it seeks to abolish the tried and tested four-tiered excise tax structure in favor of a unitary system.

The Abaya bill imposes a 1,000 percent increase on the excise tax rates of the low–priced brands that account for 60 percent of the country’s entire tobacco industry’s volume.

For their part, tobacco farmer leader Bernard Vicente said they will continue to hold mass actions to express their sentiments and they cautioned legislators against the passing a law that would adversely affect their only means of livelihood.

To date, reports from the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) disclosed that 2.7 million families are dependent on the country’s tobacco industry.