Bishop backs bills to hike 'sin taxes'

A senior Catholic official threw his support behind moves in Congress to raise taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic drinks. Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez Jr. said there is nothing morally questionable about raising "sin taxes," adding it could help curb smoking and drinking. "There is nothing morally against it (raising sin taxes)," he said in an article posted on the Union of Catholic Asian News website. He added that other countries impose higher taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic drinks. Earlier, the House of Representatives started hearings on bills filed by Rep. Erico Aumentado to raise funds for government’s health and education programs. If the “sin taxes" are passed, the government will generate billions of pesos annually for its national health insurance program and the Education Department’s information and communications technology projects. The proposed bills are expected to take effect on January 1, 2012. An estimated 17.3 million of about 90 million Filipinos are smokers, according to the Philippine Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). The respondents were as young as 15 years old and at least 13.8 million claimed that they smoked daily. Meanwhile, The National Tobacco Administration has been opposing the bills, saying higher prices of cigarettes will only decrease the demand for tobacco, affecting two million Filipinos who thrive on tobacco farming. Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) revealed Filipinos were the heaviest drinkers of alcoholic beverages in Southeast Asia. Citing studies conducted by Synovate, a global market research group, the DOH noted that 11 percent of the population, aged 15 to 74, drink alcoholic beverages at an average of four or more days a week. Twenty four percent of Filipinos, aged 15 to 19 years old, were also found to be regular drinkers. –VVP, GMANews.TV