“We believe that World No Tobacco Day is the perfect avenue to campaign for the immediate passage of the tobacco tax bills filed in the senate. He said he supports the increase in the tobacco tax rate, especially because revenues are needed to fund the universal health care (UHC) program. Ejercito said significantly raising tobacco tax rates is key in fully implementing the UHC program, which he proposes to legislate. This was the intention when I filed Senate Bill 1605 to increase the excise tax on tobacco products,” Ejercito explained. Smoking and heart diseaseEvery year on May 31, the World Health Organization and partners mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) with this year’s theme “Tobacco Breaks Hearts”.

Source: Manila Times June 01, 2018 16:13 UTC