Sugar agency opposes 10% tax on soft drinks

MANILA, Philippines - Government agencies are not speaking with one voice on a bill pending in the House of Representatives seeking a 10-percent tax on soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages, including juices and so-called energy boosters.

While the Department of Health (DOH) has supported the bill of Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrelita Suansing, the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has opposed it.

In a position paper submitted to the House ways and means committee chaired by Marikina Rep. Romero Federico Quimbo, SRA Administrator Maria Regina Bautista-Martin said the proposed tax “will negatively affect incomes of sugarcane farmers and hamper development plans in the sugar industry.”

She said it is most likely that the tax would be passed on to sugar farmers.

 “Most of our farmers have small farms. About 80 percent of farms have areas of five hectares or less. Any sugarcane farmer who is raising productivity and improving efficiency to better compete against imported sugar and sugar-containing products and against sugar substitutes like high fructose corn syrup cannot afford to shoulder either directly or indirectly any new tax measure,” she said.

She added that the soft drinks industry accounts for six percent of total national demand for sugar.

She pointed out that the sugar-producing sector is now in the middle of an upgrading program to prepare it for regional and global competition.

“A tax on soft drinks may interfere with this objective,” she said.

Earlier, Visayas congressmen led by Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez warned their colleagues that the imposition of the proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages would adversely affect the livelihood of tens of thousands of sugar industry workers.

“Sugar is not the culprit in the obesity, overweight and diabetes problems of an increasing number of Filipinos. There is no proof that sugar consumption is linked to those illnesses,” Benitez said.

Earlier, the DOH said consumption of soft drinks and carbonated drinks has been “identified as one of the behavioral risk factors contributing to the development of non-communicable diseases” like diabetes and hypertension.

The department cited international studies that showed the link between soft drink consumption and overweight, obesity and diabetes.

It said researchers have “observed a positive association between soft drinks and juice consumption and increased risk of diabetes.”

 “Ingestion of soft drinks and juices tends to cause rapid increase in blood sugar and insulin,” it said, quoting the studies, which were mentioned in a 2014 World Health Organization paper on interventions to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity.

 “Although these studies were done internationally, the DOH agrees that it is obvious that the impact of increased intake of sugar-sweetened beverages significantly affects the health of people,” it said.

The DOH noted that the number of overweight Filipinos had increased “from 24 percent in 2003 to 26.6 percent in 2008.”

 “It is also noteworthy to mention that most of our youth today are either overweight or obese due to sedentary lifestyle,” it said.