TOBACCO EXCISE TAX SHARE

LINGAYEN–The reported misuse of the Tobacco Excise Tax in the 5th District of Pangasinan as claimed by a farmers’ group will finally be investigated by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP).

This became evident after Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Calimlim, SP presiding officer, referred the Oct. 26, 2015 letter of Ruben M. Lagmay, president of the North and Central Luzon Tobacco Farmers Association Inc. (NL-CLTFA) to Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr., to the Committees on Good Government and Public Accountabilities, Laws and Ordinances, Agriculture, Cooperatives to look into the issues raised in the letter.

In his letter to Gov. Espino dated Oct. 26, 2015, Lagmay reiterated his organization’s   appeal for answers on the use of the tobacco excise tax, particularly a confirmation whether, indeed, P600 million in 2010 and millions more in 2011 and 2012 as the district’s share in the tobacco excise taxes were received by former Fifth District Congressman Mark Cojuangco and spent on projects that did not benefit tobacco farmers.

He said the Save the Pangasinan Movement repeatedly published an  “Open Letter” in a local weekly newspaper asking Cojuangco for clarification but the latter never responded.

“We learned that Ex-Congressman Cojuangco put up a drying facility in Barangay Bersamin, Alcala but to us, the purchase of the land in the amount of P45.8 million, construction of P8.5 million building and the installation of a mechanical dryer costing P9.8 million, were questionable ,” Lagmay wrote in Pilipino.

Lagmay said he also wrote the Commission on Audit (COA), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and National Dairy Authority (NDA) to conduct a special audit regarding the disbursement of the Tobacco Excise Tax but he said only COA responded.

COA merely informed Lagmay that his letter was referred to the Cluster 4, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Corporate Government Sector “for appropriate action”.

Lagmay’s group had also questioned the establishment of a Dairy Farm in Barangay Maraboc in Laoac, reportedly also using the excise tax share of the municipality of Alcala in buying cattle and their feeds and in putting up tower silos.

The farmers’ group claimed that the tobacco farmers were short-changed as a result of the reported misuse of the district’s share of the Tobacco Excise Tax.

The association asked Gov. Espino and the SP to provide the answers in their search for justice and in finding the truth on the missing Tobacco Excise Tax. (Leonardo Micua)

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