Plight of tobacco tillers bewailed

Some 2.2 million Ilocanos are on the verge of economic dislocation with the looming enactment of the Tobacco Regulation Law and the continued failure of the government to release the P4-billion tax share of the tobacco-producing provinces, Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric Singson said yesterday.

"The entire Ilocos region is in crisis because of the series of anti-tobacco campaigns. It is now between life and death for 2.2 million people in the Ilocos region," said Singson, president of the Northern Luzon Alliance, a political grouping of all Ilocano congressmen.

At present, more than 500,000 farmers of the four Virginia tobacco-producing provinces produce some P2.5 billion worth of tobacco annually.

Apart from the farmers, Singson said the entire population of the tobacco-producing provinces is dependent on tobacco farming.

Singson said the tobacco industry generates for the government an average of P21 billion in taxes yearly, which help a great deal in funding economic, infrastructure, education, health, social and welfare programs not only in the Ilocos region but all over the country.

All these economic and financial benefits are about to come to an end at a time when the people and the government itself are suffering from an economic crisis and a huge budgetary deficit, Singson said.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos and Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin Jr. have joined Singson in bewailing the plight of tobacco farmers, saying that for three years now, they have been seeking the immediate release of more than P4 billion as share from tobacco taxes.