Senators Frank Drilon and Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday defended non-governmental organizations that received grants from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for their anti-tobacco advocacy.
"The grants are not lobby money because these NGOs are advocates of something that Bloomberg believes in," said Drilon.
“You want to put up an anti-cigarette foundation and you show that you will work for the reduction of smoking in our country you can apply for a grant but it doesn’t mean [it’s] lobby money. I don’t think that’s correct," he added.
Meanwhile, Lacson believed there is no need to investigate the supposed lobby fund given to the organizations.
"It doesn’t merit [an investigation] Nasa website naman yan. Kung lobby ilalagay mo sa website?," he asked.
But Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has a different take on the matter.
"I do not know whether that is a lobby fund. I just read that most of the projects where the money, where allotments were made were all dealing with tobacco control," he said.
"It only shows that there is an effort by foreigners to influence the internal policies of the country," he added.
‘Industry lobbyists are the problem’
In a privilege speech Monday, Senator Ralph Recto said it did not matter to him if groups that received lobby money from Bloomberg’s foundation opposed his version of the sin tax bill.
But NGOs criticized Recto for questioning the motives of health and human rights groups funded by Bloomberg.
“Casting malice over good work is an act of despair,” said Evita Ricafort of public health policy NGO HealthJustice.
“Recto singled out Mayor Bloomberg as a funding source, but didn’t say New York City’s lung cancer rates have dropped dramatically,” said Ricafort, “ He wants to ‘help’ consumers by providing affordable access to an addictive product that kills? That’s hardly good for consumers and is far from a public service."
“We thank Recto for resigning and withdrawing his report but he needs to realize that tobacco industry lobbyists are the problem and not Mayor Bloomberg who is only helping the Philippines and not gaining anything from it,” said Emer Rojas of New Vois Association of the Philippines, a group of cancer survivors and persons with disabilities actively lobbying for tobacco tax reform.
The groups said Recto was not the first to argue against funding for tobacco control. They said Rep. Mitos Magsaysay, Rep. Eric Singson, and even Enrile have often been critical of such grants for both NGOs and government agencies.
The NGOs argued that under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization, the Philippines is obligated to shield public health policy from the influence of the tobacco industry which stands to gain if more people smoke.
Also, Recto said he could not see how raising sin taxes will bring in the revenue that the government is targeting while decreasing the number of smokers at the same time.
But the NGOs claimed that Recto refused to meet with health expert Dr. Prakit Vathesatogkit, a former senator of Thailand who sent Recto a graph of their experience where cigarette sales volumes have stayed constant while revenues successfully quadrupled over the last 22 years
Also, Recto proposed that if public health is really the goal, cigarettes should be banned altogether rather than be heavily taxed.
“This part, Recto got right: banning cigarettes would be the best thing our government can do,” said “running priest” Fr. Robert Reyes, “Kung seryoso siyang naniniwalang nakakamatay ito, ipanukala niya ang total ban kesa gamitin ang argumento laban sa tamang buwis.”
“Pero aasahan pa ba natin sa kanya yun, kung buwis nga hindi niya maitaas ng husto,” Reyes added. — DVM, GMA News
