Has the sin tax made Pinoys quit smoking? DOH can’t say yet

Has the sin tax succeeded in cutting down the number of smokers in the Philippines? The Department of Health (DOH) can't say for certain yet, more than a year after the law imposing higher taxes on tobacco products was enacted.  Lucky Strike Blue cigarettes.

On Wednesday, the DOH failed to show concrete data on the effect of the sin tax law on Filipino smokers to a congressional oversight committee assessing the effectivity of legislation.

DOH Secretary Enrique Ona told the committee that it is still "too early" to assess the law's effect.

He added that his agency, together with the National Statistics Office (NSO), still has to conduct the Global Adult Tobacco Survey within the year.

"We can be able to give you that figure probably by next year's report to the committee," Ona said.

Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., who hails from the tobacco-producing province of Ilocos Norte, was unimpressed by the lack of data to show that the sin tax law indeed has health benefits.

"Every time we would talk about revenue, the answer I receive from the proponents of the bill is that this is a health measure. How do we determine the success or otherwise of this bill if we do not have those figures?" Marcos said.