On SC’s decision over FDA’s regulatory power over tobacco products
July 30, 2024
Mr. President, this is just a point of information for the body.
Today, the Supreme Court has ruled that the FDA has authority over tobacco products. It has denied the motion for reconsideration of the Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) and has ruled with finality that the FDA has regulatory powers over the health aspects of tobacco products.
I bring this up today, Mr. President, because time and again, this august body has had to make very difficult decisions, and has passed laws regulating the tobacco industry. Sadly, one of the major laws that we passed in the last Congress was in favor of the tobacco industry. That law gave the power to regulate vape products, which are tobacco products, to the Department of Trade and Industry.
And today, the Blue Ribbon Committee, which I chair, is hearing the monumental, catastrophic, embarrassing spectacle that the Philippine government presented itself in an international body, wherein they lobbied for the tobacco industry… They supported the tobacco cause in a health forum, a WHO health forum. That is pending in the Blue Ribbon Committee.
As we go about our day-to-day work, on the internet are products that are targeting the youth. They are tobacco products in a different form, they are now encased in plastic, they are now emitting what is called vapors instead of smoke, but they’re equally harmful, Mr. President. And this body, in the last Congress, gave the authority to DTI, that to this day, if you look at the jurisdiction of DTI, has absolutely no power, no expertise in the health field. And yet they are given the power to regulate these products.
So I bring this up, my dear colleagues, because, with finality, the Supreme Court has ruled that it is the FDA that has jurisdiction over [the health aspects of] tobacco products.
A very brief history, dear colleagues. In 2008, I sponsored the FDA bill. In 2009, it became a law. Around 2011, the FDA issued regulations over the tobacco industry, and Philip Morris refused to be under the jurisdiction of the [FDA], and they filed the case in the lower court, and this went all the way up to the Supreme Court. It’s been a battle for 15 years, if you count the time that we passed the law. Fifteen years, they delayed the implementation of the law. The argument being, shampoo, regulated kayo ng FDA, toothpaste, regulated ng FDA, perfume, regulated ng FDA, Lysol, regulated ng FDA. Ano pa? Pero tobacco, hindi. They’re in a class of their own, according to the tobacco industry. They do not need the regulation of the Food and Drug Authority.
Fifteen years since we passed the law, ang dami ko nang colleagues dito na namatay since then. The late Senator Flavier, the man behind “Yosi Kadiri,” he’s gone. My seatmate, the father of our Minority Floor Leader, the late Senator Nene Pimentel, was very supportive of this measure, Mr. President. He’s gone. The father of our colleague, Senator Angara, also supported us on this anti-tobacco campaign. He’s gone. They’re all gone.
So it’s on us, dear colleagues, to ensure the health of the Filipino people. That is all, Mr. President. I just hope that in the days, in the weeks, in the months to come, I will have your support when the Blue Ribbon Committee submits its Committee Report, which will also include recommendation of laws that will help regulate a disease that can be prevented if we promote health in its truest form, if we do not allow tobacco lobbies to dictate upon us. Thank you, Mr. President. #