The Department of Health has said that its proposal to impose additional tax on salty products still needs further discussion with other government agencies and stakeholders.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said that their proposal is still at an early stage.
“It is still a preliminary suggestion at malaliman pag-aaral pa iyan together with the Department of Finance and DTI…Ito ay mahabang usapin pa. Susundin natin ‘yung proseso kung ito bang mungkahi na ito ay katanggap-tanggap. Pag-aaralan pa ito,” said Duque.
“Siguro ililista muna natin lahat ng may maaalat na sangkap at saka pag-usapan kung ano ba talaga doon yung praktikal na puwedeng umpisahan na patawan ng buwis,” he added.
The Health chief said that they are also eyeing other measures to encourage Filipinos to reduce their salt consumption.
“Isa sa mga hakbang…kung hindi siyempre ‘yung edukasyon din at pagpapaliwanag ng malinaw sa mga kababayan natin na ta-lagang sila din ang makokompromiso…kung panay na lamang maaalat ang kinakain…Taxation is another mode,” he said.
Recently, the United Nations Interagency Task Force said that the high consumption of salt is one of the causes of non-communicable diseases in the country. Examples of NCDs include cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and chronic respiratory diseases.
The average salt intake of Filipinos is double than the recommended level of the World Health Organization, said UNIATF External Relations Officer Dr. Alexey Kulikov.
“Salt consumption in the Philippines is about two times than the WHO recommended level…The WHO recommended level is two grams of sodium per day which is about five grams of salt. In the Philippines, it is about 11 grams of salt per day,” he said.
Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson said yesterday that the DoH is an anti-poor government agency for its proposal. (Analou de Vera with a report from Mario Casayuran)