Health advocates and medical experts have sounded the alarm: at least 47 Filipino lives are lost to alcohol-related diseases daily. And this statistic makes it imperative to raise alcohol taxes to help curb such diseases and reduce social harms.
At a briefing on Friday, April 24, to launch the “Sinasaktan ng Alak ang Pamilya” campaign calling for an increase on alcohol taxes, medical experts and the Sin Tax Coalition warned that the deep-seated normalization of drinking in Philippine culture is masking a public health crisis that leaves even the middle class just one medical emergency away from bankruptcy.
Rotting from within
Dr. Hector M. Santos Jr., President of the Philippine Medical Association and Chief Consultant of Plastic Surgery at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center, observed that alcohol has become a permanent decoration in Filipino society, present in everything from celebrations to moments of grief.
“Little by little, your liver will start to rot. Little by little, your cancer cells will increase,” Santos said. He explained that alcohol breaks down in the liver into aldehydes, which act as “mutants” in the body, triggering genetic damage and cancers of the breast, ovaries, and digestive tract.
According to the PMA, almost half (45.2 percent) of the 47 daily deaths are linked to liver cancer.
The physician warned that these cases often stem from cirrhosis, the late stage scarring of the liver where healthy tissue is replaced by permanent scar tissue, preventing the organ from functioning properly.
Once the damage progresses to cancer, patients often face a survival window of only three to six months.
Beyond chronic disease, alcohol consumption has also led to road crashes, Santos said, citing the case where his department treated in a single week three motorcycle riders for severe facial fractures sustained in alcohol-related crashes.
The one-shot myth
Romeo Tancioco, a stroke survivor, said he once believed that moderate drinking is safe. Despite identifying as a physically active athlete who played golf and basketball, he suffered from two strokes that robbed him of his sense of smell and significantly impaired his speech.
“I was drinking one to two shots thinking it was a safe level of alcohol consumption,” Tancioco shared. “Your family also suffers when a stroke hits. Of course, your financial expenses, that’s a big thing.”
Santos said there is no safe level of alcohol consumption and pointed out that liquor destroys the heart’s contractility and leads to atherosclerosis, where cholesterol deposits (broken down remnants of aldehydes) block blood flow, triggering hypertension and strokes that remain leading causes of death in the country.
Threat to the next gen
The medical warning extended beyond the individual to the household and the future of Filipino children. Drawing from his experience as a surgeon, Santos highlighted the impact of maternal alcoholism on newborns. He detailed how alcohol acts as a direct cause of congenital deformities, including cleft lip, cleft palate, and meningocele, a birth defect where the membranes covering the spine poke through an opening in the back.
“We see mothers who are alcoholics whose children suffer from these different congenital anomalies,” Santos said. He emphasized that the normalization of alcohol in Philippine culture veils the reality that alcohol is a root source of developmental destruction.
The lambanog trap
The Sin Tax Coalition raised the alarm over alcopops—pre-mixed alcoholic beverages designed to attract younger consumers by mimicking innocent juices. Paul Roset, a member of the coalition, mentioned that these products are sold for as low as P40, making them more affordable than a kilo of rice for many low-income earners.
Santos also warned that the danger is compounded by unregulated alternatives like lambanog (traditional Filipino distilled palm liquor). He explained that the crude distillation of coconut-based alcohol can result in high levels of methanol.
“If distillation went wrong, what you’re drinking is no longer the kind of alcohol the human body can process,” Santos said. “It’s like drinking gasoline and diesel.” He noted that such products can reach 45 percent alcohol content and cause permanent blindness or death.
The policy proposal
The campaign serves as a final push for House Bills 5475 and 5476, which seek to significantly increase excise taxes on distilled spirits and fermented liquors. Currently pending before the House Committee on Ways and Means, the measures also aim to fund the Universal Health Care (UHC) program with the additional taxes.
If approved and enacted into law, the measure would implement a multi-year scaling of taxes starting as early as 2026. Under the proposal, the specific tax for distilled spirits would jump to P88 per proof liter in its first year, eventually climbing to P214 by 2031 through a 25 percent year-on-year increase.
Fermented liquors, such as beer, would see a 10 percent annual rise over the same period, moving from P50 per liter in 2026 to P73 in 2031. To protect the tax value against inflation, both categories would face a six percent annual indexation after the initial five-year hike.
The advocates noted that the tax treatment for distilled spirits is significantly higher because it is calculated per proof liter based on alcohol content, whereas beer is taxed by volume regardless of its strength.
Rep. Dadah Kiram Ismula of Akbayan Partylist, co-author of the bills, described alcohol as a deceptive threat to the Filipino home. She criticized the glamorization of alcohol through aggressive advertisements and celebrity endorsements, stating that such marketing strategies make drinking appear as a lifestyle necessity rather than a personal choice.
“Alcohol is a silent and traitorous killer,” Ismula lamented. “The harm of alcohol isn’t always visible. It’s seen in the stories of children who go to sleep hungry because a parent’s salary goes to a bottle of alcohol instead of rice.”
“Every number mentioned has an equivalent name, a family, and a story,” Santos said. “Now is the time to move.”
Editor’s note: This article was produced by an intern from the Bicol University as part of their internship with VERA Files.
