Sponsorship Speech Under Committee Report No. 12 for P.S.R. No. 195
by
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago
Foreign Relations Committee Chair

Your Committee on Foreign Relations is humbly pleased to present this report recommending approval of Proposed Senate Resolution No. 195 entitled "Resolution Concerning the Ratification of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control".

Advocates of public health have long expressed their concern about the impact of tobacco use on current and future heath of populations, especially in developing countries. The alarm raised by these advocates is not unfounded for tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the world today. It has been reported that tobacco kills 4.9 million people each year, and this toll is expected to double in the next 20 years. Plainly, tobacco will prematurely end the lives of 10 million people every year if the current trends are to continue.

While the contribution of tobacco to premature death and disease is well documented, little attention has been paid to the link between tobacco and poverty. Records indicate that tobacco tends to be consumed by those who are poor. Tobacco consumption thus contributes to poverty through loss of income, loss of productivity, disease, and death. There is indeed an inextricable link between tobacco and poverty, and the use of tobacco, especially by poorer people causes harmful consequences to their already precarious economies and income.

It was against this backdrop that the World Health organization (WHO) actively worked towards the adoption of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The Convention is the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the WHO and is the first legal agreement designed to reduce tobacco-related deaths and disease around the world. It is essentially an evidence-based instrument that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health.

Among its many measures, the treaty requires to impose restrictions on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion; establish new packaging and labeling of tobacco products; establish clean indoor air controls; and strengthen legislation to clamp down on tobacco smuggling. In fine, the Convention requires each party to develop and implement comprehensive multisectoral tobacco control strategies, plans, and programs designed to control the devastating impact of tobacco consumption.

The Framework Convention was adopted by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 2003. Since adoption, the momentum growing around the Convention seems unstoppable. So far, 168 countries, including the European Community, have signed the Convention, while 57 Member States have ratified it. In less than a year and a half, more than 50 countries from all the regions of the world have taken the necessary step to become contracting parties to the treaty, making it one of the most rapidly embraced UN treaties of all time. This more than demonstrates the importance placed by the international community on responding to the threat posed by tobacco use to health and welfare.

The Philippines signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on 23rd September 2003. On 5 October 2004, President Gloria Arroyo signed the Instrument of Ratification. The salient features of the FCTC are embodied in Republic Act 9211 " An Act Regulating the Packaging, Use, Sale, Distributions and Advertisement of Tobacco Products and for Other Purposes" and its implementing Rules and Regulations, otherwise known as the "Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003".

It has been said that international acceptance of the Convention will translate into public health gains for all of humankind. Let us now join the international community in its efforts to respond to this man-made catastrophe by cementing our commitment to the Framework Convention.