THE
Philippines and Brunei lead their ASEAN peers in efforts to put a check on
tobacco industry interference in health governance matters.
According to the Southeast Asia Tobacco
Control Alliance’s (SEATCA) Tobacco Industry Interference Index, the
Philippines and Brunei scored the lowest on several indicators of governance
and policy making.
Brunei scored 29 points, while the
Philippines, 38. The highest scores were for Indonesia (84), Vietnam (76) and
Lao PDR (67).
The index ranks countries based on several
indicators of tobacco industry interference in health governance matters,
ranging from industry donations to partnership in policy-making. Lower scores
indicate that governments are successful in curbing tobacco industry meddling
on public health policies involving tobacco control.
SEATCA, a regional non-government
organization, presented the index during a forum held at the Manila office of
the World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday. Nine of the 10 ASEAN
member-countries were ranked in the index.
Dr. Mary Assunta Kolandai, Senior Policy Advisor
to SEATCA, said, government interaction with the tobacco industry requires
transparency, thus the need to introduce procedures of disclosure.
The Philippines is seen as a leader in the
region, after the government introduced policies meant to curb tobacco industry
control of health outcomes. These measures were House Bill No. 5589, known as
“An Act Strengthening the Inter-Agency Committee on Tobacco (IACT)”, filed by
the Ang Nars Party-list and seeks to remove tobacco industry representation in
the IACT.
Attorney Krunimar Antonio D. Escudero III,
Attorney VI of the Civil Service Commission said the bill will help free IACT
from the influence of the tobacco industry.
“Yes, definitely it will help in terms of
tobacco control but not totally, because the tobacco industry will be removed
from the committee,” he told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of Friday’s forum.
“They lobby with the country’s legislators to
advocate for them, that is what’s happening. They have several tactics. The
removal of the [tobacco industry] from the IACT is one of the steps in order to
lessen the interference they are doing,” Mr. Escudero said.
According to the SEATCA report, the
Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) last year successfully lobbied for the
Bureau of Customs (BOC) campaign dubbed as “Fight Illicit Trade,” which checked
against the proliferation of counterfeit tobacco products in the local market.
SEATCA cited Mighty Corporation’s assistance
to government in its campaign against the trade of counterfeit tobacco products.
SEATCA also cited PTI’s lobby to reduce the
Department of Health’s authority in implementing Republic Act 10643 or the
Graphic Health Warning Law.
The NGO said the tobacco industry also used
corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to curry favour with
government officials and undermine the implementation of RA 10643.
In its report, SEATCA said Philip Morris
International (PMI) has increased CSR spending in Malaysia, Thailand and the
Philippines to $2.5 million in 2015 from $1.5 million in 2009.
“The current administration is still in the
phase of policy priorities and initiating concrete steps [however] I think the
current administration is going to take us on a strong stance on limiting
tobacco industry interference and we certainly see that the President has been
very active in the fight against tobacco in Davao and the ordinances introduced
[there] is a sense of very high commitment to the national level”, Dr. Gundo A.
Weiler, WHO Representative to the Philippines, told BusinessWorld.
“There is no single department or agency
alone that can take it and we see that there is a good dialogue between the
different departments and different sectors in the country and we hope to
intensify this [campaign] in the future,” he said, referring to the cooperation
needed by different government agencies to curb tobacco industry influence on
policy making.
Reniel D. Gloriani
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