1M Pinoys stopped smoking in past 6 years partly due to tax – DOH

One million Filipinos stopped smoking in the past six years partly due to tobacco taxation measures put into place in 2012, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said on Monday.

Citing the 2015 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), Ubial said the million-person drop was "the biggest decline" they have seen in the Philippines and was achieved through the work of various stakeholders.

“The success of these efforts is living proof that health for all can truly be achieved when all partners work toward the same goal,” Ubial said.

According to the survey available on the World Health Organization (WHO) website, tobacco use among Filipinos 15 years and above "significantly decreased" from 29.7 percent in 2009 to 23.8 percent in 2015.

Quit attempts by smokers and people who are interested in quitting rose to 76.7 percent, with 4 percent succeeding in the last 12 months of the study and 56.5 percent being advised to quit by healthcare providers.

Ubial attributed part of this success to taxation measures taken by the government since 2012, which she believes could be advanced to further limit tobacco use especially among vulnerable groups.

“There is still much to be done in our country’s efforts to limit and curtail tobacco use, especially for our economically disadvantaged countrymen who are the most affected with diseases linked to long use and exposure to tobacco products,” she said.

Daily cigarette smokers supposedly spend P696.1 among men and P515.8 among women per month on tobacco.

The base price of tobacco increased after the passage of Republic Act 10351, or the Sin Tax Reform Law, signed in 2012 as a health measure taken for the government's Universal Health Care program.

Finance ASec. Ma. Teresa Habitan said they will observe how well RA 10351 "works in the long run" to see if it will significantly curb smoking among Filipinos and generate more income for the government.

Public smoking declines in homes, still high in other places

Exposure to secondhand smoke in homes and public places significantly declined from 25.5 percent in 2009 to 13.6 percent in 2015 in government buildings and 54.4 percent in 2009 to 34.7 percent in 2015 in homes.

"We are grateful for government initiative to impose smoking bans in public places where non-smokers become unwillingly exposed to second-hand smoke,” Ubial said.

However, exposure in other public places remained high, with 21.9 percent  of adults visiting restaurants and 37.6 percent of adults using public transportation being exposed to secondhand smoke.

Ubail said this called for better measures from the national and local governments to "protect the health of all Filipinos who choose not to endanger themselves with these substances, and are inadvertently exposed to them due to the actions or indifference of many other Filipinos."

WHO Representative Dr. Gundo Weiler concurred and said that while the Philippines has"one of the most pronounced decreases in prevalence of tobacco use among countries in Asia", it still needs to redouble its efforts.

“While this is truly a great achievement, we need to redouble our efforts and intensify the interventions that have been proven to be effective,” Weiler said.

The 2015 GATS, a study done every five years, was the result of a collaboration between the DOH and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). It surveyed 13,500 households or 13,500 individuals and cost P29 million. — BM, GMA News