Tougher prosecution to curb illicit tobacco trade pushed

The Philippine Star

July 14, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Amid mounting losses from the illicit tobacco trade, lawmakers and government officials are calling for intensified efforts to prosecute and convict criminal syndicates behind the illegal market, saying seizures alone have failed to deter offenders.

Speaking at the Third International Tobacco Summit, Manila Rep. Rolando Valeriano urged law enforcement agencies to shift their focus from merely confiscating illicit tobacco products to ensuring that those responsible are successfully prosecuted and convicted.

“As lawmakers, we often hear reports about successful seizures. We see photographs of confiscated products. We read about warehouses being discovered. Those are important victories,” said Valeriano, chair of the House committee on public order and safety.

“But after the press conference, after the inventory, after the seizure, an important question remains: What happened to the case? Was somebody prosecuted? Was somebody convicted?” he added.

Valeriano said the objective should be to make illicit trade “risky, costly, and ultimately unsustainable.”

“If no one is convicted, no one is afraid and illicit trade will never stop,” he said.

His remarks came amid continuing concerns over the scale of the illicit tobacco market in the Philippines. A recent study by the EU-ASEAN Business Council and Euromonitor International estimated that the government lost at least $2.5 billion, or around P141 billion, in revenues over the past two years due to illicit tobacco products.

The study also found that one in every four cigarette sticks and more than four in five vape products sold in the country were illegal, contraband, counterfeit or unbranded.

Valeriano said Congress could further strengthen the country’s anti-illicit trade framework and “ensure our laws remain responsive to evolving threats.”

One such possibility is a long-proposed Anti-Illicit Trade measure that would improve prosecution mechanisms, enhance inter-agency coordination, and introduce technologies such as track-and-trace systems to monitor tobacco supply chains.

During the summit, Prosecutor General Richard Anthony Fadullon said a significant majority of complaints filed under the Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Act required further case build-up because available evidence was insufficient to sustain convictions in court.

To date, he said,  the National Prosecution Service has filed 45 criminal complaints involving 164 individual respondents.

“Out of these cases, 10 have already progressed to indictments with appropriate charges already being filed with the Court of Tax Appeals, which now exercises exclusive jurisdiction over these offenses. However, more than 75 percent of the complaints were referred to concerned law enforcement agencies for further case build-up, having been found to contain insufficient evidence for preliminary investigation at the time of filing,” he said.