Trademark scare tactics

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez is one brave Cabinet official. Without hemming and hawing, the former business leader-turned bureaucrat boldly spoke out against a proposed new law that would impose tax on salty products. It was originally contained in a House Bill earlier filed but was apparently ignored by the 17th Congress.

For that independent stand, I would count the DTI Secretary as a brave soul in speaking out his mind contrary to what could be another revenue-raising measure being cooked up by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Lopez was our featured guest in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay on the eve of the Western observance of Halloween as highlight of All Saints Day. The DTI Secretary admitted his reluctance to support such new tax imposition on food products when I asked him to comment on this renewed proposal during our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum that we hold every Wednesday at Café Adriatico in Remedios Circle, Malate.

“In the industry, especially on food products, ideally, there should be no tax. Many products would be hit by the tax,” Lopez pointed out. Lopez explained his area of concern on the proposed legislation of such new tax law on food products. “[If it would be taxed], it should not be so big that it would seem we don’t want it to be consumed. This is being consumed by the general public.”

The original proposed legislation seeks to impose a P1 tax per milligram of salt in junk foods, canned goods and processed food in excess of one third of the allowable daily intake as prescribed by the Department of Health (DOH). It was filed by former Masbate Representative Scott Davies Lanete under House Bill 3719 but did not prosper at the 17th Congress. It was not among the tax reform bills that were endorsed to the 17th Congress by the Department of Finance (DOF).

As of this writing though, the DOF has not submitted any tax bill on salty foods at the 18th Congress.

As I understood it, this idea apparently came out from the top of the mind of DOH Secretary Dr. Francisco Duque III. Along with this line, Duque disclosed the possible adoption by DOH of a new “low-salt to no-salt” policy of the government in the regulation of food manufacturing.

 “As we have seen the positive effects on increasing taxes on ‘sin’ products, the same strategy might work also for excessive consumption of salt and we did the same thing for taxing sweetened beverages,” Duque disclosed. He was obviously referring to the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion, or the TRAIN Law signed by President Duterte in 2017 that imposed excise tax on sweetened products like soft drinks and other beverages that have high sugar content. 

Duque perhaps may have had a slip of the tongue on their crafting another “sin” tax bill to help raise funds that will fill the financing gap in the Universal Health Care program of the government. He revealed it during an ambush interview by health reporters at the sidelines of the conference on prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country.

The conference held at the Manila Hotel last Tuesday presented the findings of the Philippine NCD Investment Case showing the country’s economy incurring P756.5 billion worth of public health expenses annually due to NCDs. The figure includes the direct costs of NCDs associated with treatment and also the indirect “hidden” costs arising from reduced productivity in the workplace and premature deaths in the workforce.

Subsequently, Duque clarified the DOH is looking at imposing “sin” tax only on the so-called “junk” foods like potato chips etc. that have high salt content, but not much nutritional value. “We can probably start with them,” Duque told a radio interview yesterday. According to Duque, the DOH noted the high consumption of salt has already impacted the health of Filipinos as indicated by the rising incidence of end-stage renal failure, hypertension and other NCDs.

United Nations Interagency Task Force on NCDs external relations officer Alexey Kulikov who spoke in that NCD conference reported the salt consumption in the Philippines is double the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommended level. Kulikov cited the WHO’s recommended level is five grams of salt per day. The Philippines’ daily salt consumption is 11 grams per day, per DOH study.

Offhand, however, the DTI Secretary seemed to be unimpressed by the reported WHO warning on our country’s salt consumption. Admitting he, too, is already on maintenance medicines to control and manage his hypertension, the 59-year-old DTI Secretary though is not sold to imposing tax on salt contents fofbasic food products like instant noodles.

 Lopez is among the members of President Duterte’s economic cluster of Cabinet officials behind the tax reform bills being submitted to Congress. Although Duque is not part of the economic team, the DOH strongly supported the “sin” taxes on alcoholic and tobacco products and the tax on “sweetened” products under the TRAIN Law.

Senators and House members also opposed the reported DOH proposal to impose tax on salt, especially on basic food products like instant noodles, calling it “anti-poor.”

At the Lower House where tax and tariff bills must emanate, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who chairs the committee on ways and means, however, remains open to the DOH proposal if imposed only on “junk” foods “since the consumptive logic of such eating habit is more obvious and pernicious to a most vulnerable population segment – our young people.”

But with our politician-legislators, we have to take their word with a grain of salt, so to speak. If hypertension, kidney failure, cardiovascular problems and other salt-intake related ailments do not scare you, “sin” tax on sodium chloride contents of food products could kill us.

In this world, so to speak also, nothing can be said to be certain, except taxes and death. In the Philippines, President Duterte’s favorite anti-drug threat: “I will kill you,” and imposing new taxes have become his administration’s trademark scare tactics. Happy Halloween!