As Congress is set to resume sessions, Minority Leader and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. on Sunday said he and members of the Minority will oppose any proposal to tax salty food, advising government policymakers to instead assess the impact of any tax measure on the poor before recommending its adoption.
This after the Department of Health (DOH) said it was considering proposing taxes on salty food products in light of a recent World Health Organization (WHO) report that revealed that the salt consumption of Filipinos exceeds WHO recommendations.
“We must draw the line at taxing food that our countrymen regularly consume, particularly the poor.”
“We can understand the rationale behind taxing alcoholic beverages and sugary drinks; these are inessential food items that are bad for the health of our people, so we can get behind measures to curb their consumption,” said Abante.
“However, we must draw the line at taxing food that our countrymen regularly consume, particularly the poor. Sa tingin namin, sobra na ang panukalang buwisan pa ang mga produkto na may maraming asin. Pati mga mahihirap ay gusto pang pahirapan,” the lawmaker said.
(In our view, we think that proposals to tax salty food is too much. It’s as if we want to add even more to the burdens of the poor.)
“Ang pagkain––maalat man o hindi––pangangailangan yan, hindi luho. (Food––salty or not––is a basic need, it isn’t a vice.) Many food items, when not eaten in moderation, are potential health risks. It is the DOH’s responsibility to inform our citizens about this. In this regard, education, not taxation, should be the focus of our health department,” stressed the legislator.
According to Abante, the DOH should “take a long, hard look at hunger incidence numbers, and ask themselves if taxing salty foods will make things worse.”
A survey conducted from September 27-30 by the Social Weather Stations found that 9.1% or an estimated 2.3 million families experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months. Involuntary hunger refers to hunger experienced by a family due to inadequate food to eat.
“Nagugutom na nga mga kababayan natin, naiisip pa nila na dagdagan ang presyo ng pagkain? (Our countrymen are already experiencing hunger, and they are still thinking of increasing the prices of food?) That is insensitive and callous. If our health officials want to promote healthy eating and healthy living, there are other ways to achieve this.”