VIGAN CITY – House Deputy Speaker for Northern Luzon Eric Singson sought a drastic reduction of importation of tobacco raw materials by local cigarette manufactures from 80 percent to 20 percent.

He said the move will strengthen the demand and sustainability of the locally-produced Virginia tobacco against the imported ones.

At the same time, Singson sought higher floor prices for flue-cured tobacco to encourage farmers to engage in Virginia tobacco production.

“Based on our observation, the volume of cigarettes being manufactured in the country continues to increase while the demand for locally produced tobacco continues to decline,” he said.

He said this is due mainly to the fact that 85 percent of the tobacco raw materials being used in cigarette production are being imported and only 15 percent are coming from local sources, Singson revealed.

Singson disclosed that he filed a bill in the House of Representatives seeking lower the importation by the country of tobacco raw materials for cigarette manufacturing in order to create a bigger demand for locally produced tobacco.

Records from the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) show that Ilocos Sur is the country’s biggest producer of the Virginia tobacco.

The Virginia tobacco, which is the main cash crop ion the Ilocos province after rice, is the steady source of fund generated from Republic Act No. 7171, otherwise known as tobacco excise tax law authored by former Congressman Luis Chavit Singson.

With the continuous decline in demand of Virginia tobacco from
Ilocos, the yearly share of the four tobacco producing provinces from the RA 7171 tobacco excise tax fund is also being reduced annually.

Based on NTA’s records, some 6,000 hectares of land were planted with tobacco in the 1st district of the province in the previous years.

However, in the last tobacco season, the hectarage went down to only 1,900 hectares.

In the province’s 2nd district, the previous areas tilled totaled 10,315.03 hectares which was reduced to 6,996.04 hectares last year.