Group wants higher taxes on cigarettes

MANILA, Philippines — Anti-tobacco group Health Justice Philippines (HJP) has pushed anew for higher taxes for cigarettes to boost universal health care.

“This World Health Day, we call on our legislators to increase tobacco tax to protect the health of our youth and to provide sustainable funding for universal health care in the Philippines,” HJP president Mary Ann Fernandez Mendoza said in a statement yesterday.

World Health Day is a global health awareness initiative spearheaded by the World Health Organization. This year’s celebration is focused on the need for universal health care and the benefits it provides a country.

Universal health care encompasses health insurance, access to improved health facilities and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, which include the prevention of non-communicable diseases.

Mendoza said that tobacco tax revenues “can assure greater health gains by providing resources for universal health care” and by further reducing tobacco consumption in the country. 
“Tobacco tax is a health measure that is already a good in itself. It is an effective deterrent to smoking, especially among the youth,” she added.