Tobacco tax hike to worsen smuggling — lawmakers

By Macon Ramos-Araneta | Posted on September 12, 2012 |

Cigarette smuggling in Mindanao is worse enough but it could worsen even more as a result of a plan to hike the tax on tobacco products, a lawmaker warned on Tuesday.
The Philippine Navy, mandated to guard the shorelines against enemies of the state, cannot control the backdoor so that the smuggling of cigarettes and other products from nearby countries continues to thrive in Mindanao, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said on Tuesday.
Recalling his experiences as a Navy officer, Trillanes supported the statement of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile about the country’s inability to regulate illicit trade. He said the government does not have the resources to address this problem.
“The question is: Are we efficient (to curb smuggling? No, we are not,” said Trillanes, a member of the senate ways and means committee chaired by Senator Ralph Recto.
Recto’s committee is conducting a public hearing on the proposed 700 percent increse in the tax on cigarettes and alcohol.
Enrile earlier said the government cannot collect what it wants to collect because of the possibility of black market traders shifting to smuggling and other illicit means to avoid the increased tax.
“We are one with Senator Enrile on this. If this will pass into law, smuggling will be the consequence. Are we efficient in addressing smuggling? No we are not. When I was assigned in Zamboanga, I witnessed the so-called ‘blue-seal’ smuggled cigarettes enter the country,” noted Trillanes.
Trillanes cited the need to study tax increases and identify the ideal rate which the market can absorb so that smuggling would not worsen.
He called on Finance and Health officials to stop confusing the public on their contradictory positions on the excise tax intended to generate additional revenues for the government and reduce tobacco consumption.
He said the government is confused on what it wants to do with the excise tax bill.
“If this is a tax measure, then DOF and BIR must be the only agencies concerned with this issue. Let’s not put any drama to this,” he said.
“The DOH, on the other hand, says it wants to reduce smoking consumption and yet desires that the DOF collect additional revenues of P60 billion that it can use for universal health care,” he said.
On the Health department’s position that the excise tax bill is also a health measure, he challenged the government to also start taxing unhealthy food products like fatty foods and sweets, among others.

 

Enrile laughs off rumors of coup d’ etat in Senate

By Macon Ramos-Araneta | Posted on September 12, 2012

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile on Tuesday laughed off a reported brewing coup d’etat in the Senate to remove him as Senate president due to his strong stance against the controversial Reproductive Health bill.
That bill aims to guarantee universal access to methods of contraception, fertility control, sexual education and maternal care.
“The possibility that I will always be replaced as Senate President is there everyday,” Enrile said but added he hadn’t heard of any such coup d’etat. Still, it would not be problem if he was removed.
“It’s okay and thank you,” he said.
“It’s okay for me due to my huge obligations in the Senate.” said Enrile, a ranking official of the United Nationalist Alliance, a coalition of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino of former President Joseph Estrada and the PDP-Laban of Vice President Jejomar Binay.
Senator Franklin Drilon, a Liberal Party stalwart, said he had no knowledge of an impending coup in the Senate, while Senator Manny Villar, president of the Nacionalista Party, called the report speculation. Drilon and Villar have served as Senate President.
The talk was that Senator Ralph Recto of the Nacionalist Party, which has coalesced with the Liberal Party, would be installed as the new Senate President since he remained “acceptable” to all the political parties in the Senate.
“That’s speculation,” Recto said.
He told reporters he was not aware of the reported Senate coup or the plan to install him, saying he was not interested in

 succeeding Enrile.
Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III said he had no idea about the reported shakeup.
“If there’s report about it, it means that it’s not true. It will not happen,” he said.
“This has always occurred in the past–the changing of the guard.
Sotto said he believed the Senate’s support for Enrile remained solid.
“I know for a fact that the administration, the present administration, is pleased with the leadership of the Senate headed by Senator Enrile.”
It was also earlier reported that Senator Loren Legarda would be replacing Enrile, but Legarda said she hadn’t heard of any such report. (END)

 

Senate detains rice importer for lying

By Macon Ramos-Araneta | Posted on September 06, 2012 |

 

A rice importer was detained in the Senate on Wednesday for lying to the senators investigating the case of the 42,000 sacks of rice worth P500 million that Customs agents seized on suspicion of having been smuggled through the Subic Bay Freeport Zone on April 4.

Detained over rice. Senate security chief Jose Balajadia (left) escorts Cesar Ramirez, who was cited for contempt on Wednesday, and ordered detained in the Senate. Inset is a photo of Saumit Ghosh, who was linked to the smuggling of rice through the Subic Bay Freeport.

 

Cesar Ramirez, a member of the Federation of San Miguel Cooperatives based in General Santos City, was barred from leaving the Senate building after attending the hearing being led by Senator Francis Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate’s agriculture committee.

He was whisked out of the session hall and escorted to the detention facility at the Senate’s parking area in the basement.

Another suspect in the case, Protek Guha, manager of Amira Foods, the company that owns the rice shipment, did not attend Wednesday’s hearing because, his lawyer said, he was in New Delhi.

Demetrio Custodio said Guha did not travel to the Philippines to attend the hearing on the advice of his doctor as a result of his high blood pressure.

Senators said another rice dealer, Magdangal Diego Bayani III of St. Andre1ws Field Grains and Cereal Trading, might also be detained if he continued to refuse to name the financiers of his business. He was given 5 days to explain why he should not be cited in contempt.

Senators including Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said they were not convinced that Ramirez was telling the truth about the rice shipment seized in Subic. They held a caucus to decide how long Ramirez would stay under the Senate’s custody. (END)