Lawmaker slams proposed tax on sweetened beverages

MANILA, Philippines - The leader of the Visayan bloc in the House of Representatives and members of the country’s sugar industry vowed yesterday to block a proposal that would impose ad valorem tax on sweetened beverages.

Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez, chairman of the committee on housing and urban development, warned the measure would affect the livelihood of thousands of sugar industry workers and their families.

He said lawmakers from Visayan-speaking regions would join the opposition against the bill.

The senior administration lawmaker also called the attention of Marikina City Rep. Romero Quimbo, chairman of the ways and means committee, on the concerns aired by key players in the sugar industry.

In a letter to Quimbo, sugar industry leaders said there are no studies showing sugar is the cause of diabetes and obesity among Filipinos.

“It is usually a combination of sedentary lifestyle and increased carbohydrate consumption that leads to the disease,” the group said, referring to diabetes.

“Usually foreign studies on the causality of the disease and sugar consumption are presented. These studies are not only disputable but are inapplicable to the Philippines,” it added.

Rice, not sugar, can be the reason why many Filipinos face obesity and diabetes issues, they said.

“Often, Filipinos ask for second serving of rice and can do without sugary desserts or beverages. It is therefore unfair to blame and tax soft drinks and carbonated drinks as culprits for obesity and diabetes,” the group said.

They called for a risk management analysis in the country to determine a direct link between sugar and obesity or diabetes.

The letter was signed by Rafael Coscolluela, president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc; Enrique Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters Inc; Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines; Danilo Abelita, president of the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Inc. and Francisco Varua, of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association.

Higher soft drink prices

Industry leaders said the proposed tax would increase the prices of soft drinks and other carbonated drinks, resulting in the “contraction of the market of refined sugar” and reduction of purchases of refined sugar.

“Sugar production will be affected as producers cannot sustain a reduction of their market or the burden of tax,” sugar industry leaders warned.

The group pointed out the sugar industry has also been contributing its share of value added taxes that reached over P2.52 billion.

Sugar planters contributed P10 of every 50-kilogram bag of raw sugar to the Sugar Amelioration Fund, which is allocated as cash bonuses to farm and mill workers, death benefit or maternity fund.