Lawmakers in the Philippines are pushing to have tobacco in raw form or finished products listed as agricultural commodities in order for the smuggling of such items to be classified as economic sabotage.
A bill was filed by Philippines lawmakers seeking to classify cigarette smuggling as economic sabotage and as an offense punishable by 30-40 years in prison without bail in addition to a fine that will be double the value of the seized smuggled items plus the total amount of unpaid duties and other taxes.
Seeking to amend the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, Senior Deputy Majority Leader Sandro Marcos and Rep. Margarita Ignacia Nograles of the PBA Party-list called for tobacco to be listed among agricultural commodities "both in its raw form or as finished products." The only agricultural products listed in the original law were rice, sugar, corn, pork, fowl, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, and cruciferous vegetables. Large-scale smuggling of any of these agricultural products is considered economic sabotage, a heinous crime.
Currently, the law only allows for 10 to 12 years in prison for individuals or businesses found in possession of cigarettes that did not settle their excise taxes. Individuals caught with smuggled cigarettes will be fined 10 times the value of the payable excise taxes or not less than PHP1 million and a minimum of five years imprisonment.
In the bill’s explanatory note, the lawmakers said, "There is an urgent need to combat large-scale tobacco smuggling by imposing more stringent penalties and deter the entry and sale of illegal tobacco in the Philippines,” adding that this issue is a “growing threat” as the government would lose more revenues should the unrestricted entry and sale of smuggled cigarettes continue. Citing government statistics, they said the government is already losing PHP30-60 billion annually in revenues due to cigarette smuggling.