3 MIN READ

By ACE ALEGRE
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY – A former Abra town chief is President Rodrigo Duterte’s “personal choice” to head the National Tobacco Administration (NTA)

Robert Victor Seares, Jr., who served as Dolores town mayor, took the helm as the NTA’s new administrator and chief executive officer, June 10. His appointment came after his father and former NTA chief Robert Seares, Sr. succumbed to illness March this year.

The three-term mayor said during oathtaking rites that he would continue his senior’s programs. He guaranteed to serve tobacco-growing communities and farmers “whose interests and welfare should always be protected.”

He vowed that he would continue programs that will “ensure” the market for tobacco growers. He stressed the need to increased “quality-driven” tobacco production to improve the farmers’ income.

Under the older Seares’ administration, the NTA created the Tobacco Industry Roadmap, which stemmed from the series of dialogues and consultations initiated by tobacco corporations (private sector) back in 2017.

The roadmap contains interventions and strategies to boost the industry and halt the decline in production. The agency aligned it with the 10-Point Socioeconomic Agenda outlined by the Duterte administration to eradicate hunger and poverty under Ambisyon Natin 2040.

Become better

Noting that the senior’s legacy is not without protests from grassroots groups, Solidarity of Peasants Against Exploitation (Stop Exploitation) chair Antonino Pugyao urged the younger Seares “to listen to the sentiments of farmers, be a better administrator”.

“We hope that he would introduce more aggressive programs and policies that would increase farmer’s productivity and income, and protection from unfair trade practices,” he added.

Early this year, the National Federation of Tobacco Farmers Associations and Cooperatives (NAFTAC) president Bernard Vicente already slammed Seares, Sr.’s time in the NTA. He took note of the extended price deadlock and the meager floor price increase.

The NAFTAC leader blamed the late administrator’s negligence for ensuring the early resolution of the price deadlock during the Tobacco Tripartite Conference in September 2019. The NTA and NAFTAC signed in January a P2.00 increase in the floor price on all kinds of tobacco in the country.

NAFTAC already noted of the senior’s “poor performance” in 2019, during the tripartite negotiations. The group also slammed the NTA’s higher prices of farm inputs compared to those of retail stores.

In 2017, STOP Exploitation also criticized the elder Seares for failing to mitigate the drop in tobacco price in his first 100 days. The administrator then claimed to have made the crop “sustainable, lucrative and mutually beneficial.”

The buying price of dried leaves that season averaged at P83.00 compared to the previous season’s P89.00 per kilo.

Challenging times

The junior Seares said that with the nationwide smoking ban’s hampering effect on the industry, the NTA would continue researching for other uses for tobacco. This included tobacco being paper products, pesticides, and as alternative farm inputs.

Demand for Ilocos’ “green gold” already dwindled since the Duterte administration enforced its nationwide smoking ban. This was also the argument also used by tobacco companies against the farmers’ call for a floor price increase.

However, with the continued implementation of the second tranche of the administration’s economic program, the future seems bleak for tobacco farmers. The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law (TRAIN Law) implementation’s implementation already gave the farmers’ heavier loads to carry then.

“[The] assertion to increase the price of tobacco is urgent and just with the steep rise of basic needs and production inputs,” STOP Exploitation said.

Meanwhile, the new NTA administrator also vowed to continue irrigation and energy projects, along with other income-generating projects. His promise includes assistance for rice, corn and vegetable production, and livestock management.

“We will prepare our farmers for the new or alternative product and livelihood so that they become prepared when the time comes that the demand for tobacco eventually drops,” Seares, Jr. said.

About three million farmers and workers rely on the country’s tobacco industry, which generates massive revenues from excise taxes. The implementation of the Sin Tax Reform Law resulted in the generation of P65 billion in revenue since 2012. # nordis.net