RAMPANT smuggling activities in Mindanao that experts have linked to armed groups who had transitioned from terror activities to the illicit cigarette trade may escalate to a national security crisis, an anti-smuggling advocacy group warned.
Antonio Israel, the president of the Nicotine Consumers Union of the Philippines and one of the lead convenors of the online advocacy campaign “EKIS sa Smuggling,” said the problem of illicit cigarette trade in the Philippines may escalate into a national security crisis, citing reports and studies that have established a link between the illegal activity and armed groups involved in terrorism and other criminal activities.
Israel warned that “the billions of pesos generated from smuggling can be used to fund unimaginable crimes that threaten our national security.”
Israel said that based on reports, “it is worrisome that armed groups in Mindanao continue to harm national interest by masterminding and perpetuating illicit trade of agriculture products and cigarettes.”
He issued the statement following the revelation by an international security expert in a recent forum in Makati City that former members of various armed groups in Mindanao have turned to smuggling operations to finance their criminal activities.
In the “Protect 2023: Doing Business Amidst New Threats” conference at the New World Hotel in Makati City last month, Prof. Rohan Gunaratna from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore said that while authorities have dismantled the structures of the Abu Sayyaf, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and ISIS in Mindanao and neutralized their leaders, remnants of the group were transitioning from terrorism to crime.
“Terrorism is no longer the real monster in the Philippines; crime is,” Gunaratna said.
“If this report is true, smuggling could sustain the presence of these armed groups as well as their terror and criminal activities. The professor’s revelations only prove that tobacco smuggling is not a victimless crime. Real lives are at stake here if these illegal activities continue,” Israel said.
Israel urged the “national government, local government units and the public to work together to put a stop to the massive illicit cigarette trade via the backdoors of Mindanao, resulting in billions of lost revenues for the government and displacing the livelihood of local farmers and industry workers.”
Israel said illicit tobacco trade “deprives the government of much-needed revenues, hurts Filipino farmers and local industries as well as threatens the health of consumers because contrabands are not subjected to safety inspection and regulation.”
