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Japan backs Manila in sea dispute with China, says DFA

REUTERS

JAPAN’S new foreign minister is backing the Philippines in its sea dispute with China and supports the 2016 ruling by a United Nations-backed tribunal that voided China’s claim to more than 80% of the South China Sea, according to Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa spoke with his Philippine counterpart Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. on Wednesday on the phone, in which he opposed unilateral attempts to change by force the status quo in the East and South China Seas, DFA said in a statement on Monday.

Japan’s demonstration of support sends a message of respect for outcomes of diplomatic and legal processes and strengthens the legal order over the seas, Mr. Locsin said in the statement.

He cited President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s statement from a previous summit that “there can be no other acceptable basis for a just maritime order but the law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas.

“All countries big and small must adhere to the rule of law faithfully and consistently. Otherwise, there will be chaos.”

This comes after Chinese ships blocked and discharged water cannons on Philippine supply ships at the Second Thomas Shoal, which the country calls Ayungin.

The South China Sea, a key shipping route, is subject to overlapping territorial disputes involving China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

During the discussion, both Japan and the Philippines reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen their strategic partnership that included cooperation not only in maritime security and safety but also on coronavirus pandemic response and the Mindanao peace process, DFA said.

Japan has provided the Philippines with more than three million doses of Japan-manufactured AstraZeneca Plc vaccines in support of the country’s vaccination program. In 2020, Japan was the Philippines’ top source of development assistance.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the two countries’ strategic partnership, the agency said.

The Philippines last month said it would not remove a ramshackle Navy ship grounded on Second Thomas Shoal, rejecting a Chinese demand days after it blocked a Philippine resupply mission.

The shoal lies within the Southeast Asian Nation’s exclusive economic zone “where we have sovereign rights,” Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said.

“That ship has been there since 1999,” he separately told reporters. “If there was a commitment it would have been removed a long time ago.”

The Philippines and China have been in a fresh word war over the sea dispute after China blocked and fired water cannons at Filipino-manned boats that were carrying supplies for marine troops stationed at the shoal.

Troops intentionally grounded the BRP Sierra Madre — a World War II-era vessel acquired by the Philippines from the US in 1976 — at the shoal in 1999 to reinforce its sovereignty claims in the Spratlys.

A 1980s treaty on sea borders that China had signed awarded the exclusive economic zone to the Philippines in the 1980s, Mr. Lorenzana said. “China should abide by its international obligations that it is part of.”

He also cited the UN-backed arbitral award in 2016 that voided China’s claim to more than 80% of the  sea based on a 1940s map.  — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan

Gov’t sets up P20-M hatchery in Quezon 

THE BUREAU of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has set up a P20-million multi-species machine hatchery in Perez, Quezon province to increase fry supply issues in the region. 

The hatchery is expected to produce 25 million pieces of milkfish fry annually and supply to cage operators in mariculture parks in Alabat, Padre Burgos and other municipalities of Quezon, it said in a statement on Monday. 

The bureau seeks to build more under the second phase of the project that will cost P15 million, it said. The hatchery will also be used to culture other species such as crabs and shrimps, the agency said. 

The bureau and local government of Perez started the project, which will also train people interested in putting up hatcheries, in June 2020. 

The hatchery seeks to lower the cost of fry and the operating capital of fish farmers. This paves the way for more nurseries and job opportunities in the community. 

The hatchery is one of 10 hatcheries in Quezon mandated by law. The bureau also plans to complete three mangrove crab nurseries in Lanao Del Norte and Catanduanes before the year ends. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson 

Holcim workers may go on strike 

HOLCIM Philippines, Inc. has said it was working to resolve the labor dispute at its Misamis Oriental plant, adding that operations there would continue. 

In a stock filing dated Dec. 10 and posted on the Philippine Stock Exchange website on Monday, the listed cement maker said its labor union had voted to go on strike. 

“We wish to inform you that Holcim Philippines Workers Union-Federation of Democratic Labor Organization, the associate union of our plant in Lugait, Misamis Oriental with 90 members, voted yes today, Dec. 10, 2021, to go on strike on the grounds of bargaining deadlock,” Holcim told the Philippine Stock Exchange. 

“The company is exerting efforts to resolve this issue in coordination with labor authorities,” it added. 

Holcim said service of clients in Northern Mindanao would continue even if the strike proceeds. 

“It has also prepared a plan to sustain operations if the strike were to proceed,” it separately said in an e-mail. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte 

Senate urged to pass LGU tax bill 

PHILIPPINE STAR/ MICHAEL VARCAS

A CONGRESSMAN on Monday urged the Senate to pass a bill that will raise the share of local governments in national taxes to boost their autonomy. 

In a statement, Camariñes Sur Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte, Jr. said local government autonomy is the most important aspect of regional and national development. 

He added that the approval of the measure would free local governments from the “clutches of Imperial Manila” in providing essential government services. 

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading House Bill 10296, which will increase the share of local governments in national taxes to 50% from 40% by amending the Local Government Code of 1991. 

Two counterpart Senate bills are pending at the committee level. 

Mr. Villafuerte said passing the bill would “empower and challenge local government units (LGU) to use the additional allocation in providing better services.” — Russell Louis C. Ku 

Comelec: No expectations on when to resolve suits

THE COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) does not expect to resolve all electoral lawsuits, including one that seeks to disqualify the only son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, at a particular date and would take its time as needed, its spokesman said on Monday. 

“I’ve said it over and over again that it will take as long as it takes,” Comelec spokesman James B. Jimenez told reporters at an online news briefing. “We don’t have expectations on that,” he said in Filipino. 

Mr. Jimenez also declined to speculate how long the disqualification case against former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr., who is running for president, will drag on once it gets appealed at the Supreme Court. 

It took the high tribunal sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal five years to resolve Mr. Marcos’s election protest against Vice-President Maria Leonor G. Robredo. He lost to her by a hair in 2016.  

There are at least nine petitions seeking to disqualify Mr. Marcos from the presidential race. 

Meanwhile, the Comelec spokesman said postponing the 2022 elections to 2025 would violate the Constitution. 

The Coalition for Life and Democracy has asked the body to halt the May 2022 elections to 2025 because of a coronavirus pandemic. 

Mr. Jimenez said the year was a typographical error and the group had wanted the Comelec to defer the elections to 2023. This would still be unconstitutional, he added. 

He said the Comelec had released at least 30 resolutions to different parties and was still working on 70 more orders. He expected the body to release all resolutions by Dec. 13. 

In a related development, Mr. Jimenez said candidates for 2022 must have their social media accounts verified before they can put out political ads to ensure accountability. 

The Comelec wants to ensure that people get their information from a credible source. While a verified account could still be used to spread fake news, at least the owner could be held responsible, he added. 

He said anyone who objects to the policy could write to the commission to complain. “The people who are claiming to be disadvantaged over this, they already got verified,” he added. — Jaspearl Emerald G. Tan 

Senator seeks 1GB free data for poor 

REUTERS

POOR people should get at least a gigabyte of free data a month, a senator said on Monday as she sought the passage of a bill that seeks to lower internet rates in depressed areas. 

“Low-income end-users need more than just the occasional mobile promo, with internet access becoming a necessity just like water and electricity,” Senator Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos, who heads the Senate economic affairs committee, said in a statement.   

“Work-from-home arrangements, online education, e-commerce, and internet banking are here to stay,” she added.  

She pushed passage of Senate Bill 2102 or the Lifeline Rate for Internet Services, which will amend the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines. 

“We are always fully supportive of initiatives that will enable us to provide telecommunication services to the general public because we know that given the rapid change and high dependence on technology in this day and age, internet access is key to economic development and poverty alleviation,” Aileen D. Regio, first vice-president and head of PLDT, Inc.’s Regulatory and Strategic Affairs, said in a mobile phone message.  

“We in fact have current plans that precisely address this need,” she added, even as she cited hurdles to their rollout in different areas of the country. 

The socialized pricing mechanism under the bill seeks to solve the slow expansion of free wi-fi access in poor areas and can already be put in place by the government and telecommunication companies, Ms. Marcos said.  

The measure is pending at a Senate committee. 

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan 

DFA brings home 150 workers from Europe  

PHILIPPINE STAR/EDD GUMBAN

THE DEPARTMENT of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday said the government brought home at the weekend about 150 migrant Filipino workers who got stranded in Europe. 

The workers arrived via Smartlynx Airlines Estonia, which flew from Amsterdam. Most of the passengers were seafarers, it said in a statement. 

The arrival of the workers is a first step in bringing home stranded Filipinos in Europe, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Y. Arriola said. 

DFA did not immediately respond to a WhatsApp question if any of the repatriates had come from a country where the more contagious Omicron coronavirus variant was present. 

The Filipinos are expected to undergo quarantine set by a government inter-agency task force. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan 

 

Gov’t monitoring incoming typhoon 

THE GOVERNMENT is closely monitoring a tropical depression that could intensify into a typhoon and enter the country by Dec. 14, the presidential palace said on Monday. 

The tropical depression “will likely enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility as a severe tropical storm on the evening of Dec. 14,” Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles said in a statement, citing local weather forecasts. 

The local weather bureau on Sunday said the storm would be named Odette once it enters the Philippines. 

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council was coordinating with regional and local councils to ensure public safety, he added. 

The Department of Social Welfare and Development has available stockpiles and standby funds for disaster response, Mr. Nograles said. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza 

A paradigm shift in voter thinking

FREEPIK

The upcoming fight for the Presidency will be won in the provinces, so having a strong, well-organized and funded party machinery is very crucial to deliver the message and to secure the votes to win the presidential election.

Considering present demographics, media reach, and social mind-set, serious candidates have written off key cities and the elites. Especially when one considers the limitations brought about by COVID-19… lockdowns, limited mobility, poor media reach, and funding difficulties of their political organization… the master of these key points will put any winning hand in-play.

Irrespective of the candidate, what will be needed is a message that will capture the self-interest of the masa (masses). They comprise the bulk of the votes that will make the next president.

As far as voters are concerned, past Presidential contests have been a choice between the lesser of given evils. No president, in recent times, has delivered on their promises or improved the quality of life of the common man.

The common perception is that our political leaders only enriched themselves, their family, and their close political associates.

To address the voter’s political cynicism, a candidate needs to offer something the voters can identify with to be one with the president. Presidential candidates need to impress upon the voters that they can and will improve their quality of life.

To avoid a repeat scenario of more of the same, the voters, in turn, will need to reorient their voting consideration as to who among the candidates can and will improve their quality of life within the next presidential term of office and junk their personality-based vote orientation.

Voters need to make a well-considered choice, they should transpose their personality-based vote consideration and adopt the frame of mind of an employer, interviewing applicants for the job of president. To improve on their past voter experience, voters will need to discern and choose the candidate wisely, the candidate with whom the voter will entrust the management of our country for the next six years with the goal of improving one’s quality of life.

We all need to demand better quality candidates for national leadership to be able to hope for the one that can and will bring us all to a better place. To this end, the political parties have failed us miserably — winnability is their only consideration. Country or the people’s future hasn’t crossed their minds in their selection process. The welfare of voters only comes to mind to get their vote. The next time voters will be thought of is when election season comes around again.

All the present political talk is centered around candidates’ personalities, qualifications, faults and character. They have little bearing on what a voter can expect or will get in the final analysis to sway the voters to win their support. Nothing is offered as a program commitment to extract our voters out of perpetual poverty, a deteriorating economic quagmire due to our past political leaders who have consistently put self-interest ahead of our country and its people.

As far as the masses are concerned, all politicians are the same — showman, liars, thieves. Leaders who are surrounded/supported by thieves and opportunists who will, in the end, make their lives more miserable. Feeling entitled, having supported the candidate, none of these supporters feel that they owe anything to the voters.

For as long as our presidential campaign remains to be a personality-oriented contest, the winning vote for the next president of our country will remain to be a choice between the lesser evils.

Unless our voters shift their voting consideration from a personality-driven vote to the posture of an Employer hiring an Employee Manager who is expected to deliver an improved quality of life for the voter within the next presidential term, it will just be more of the same. Their lives and misery that they now endured will just continue to be exacerbated no matter who wins the contest.

Our masa should not be short-sighted. They need to be kind to themselves. As voters, they need to see that there is something in it for themselves in order to be responsible and to make an intelligent vote. A vote to improve the economic stature of the country, themselves, and their family when hiring the next President of the Philippines for the next six years.

The next President must be able to articulate and commit to a staffing standard and qualification of people he will recruit to help him deliver his plan to mature his commitment.

Otherwise, we will end up with incompetent, do-nothing supporters who will be there only to enrich and aggrandize themselves in their new positions. If that will be the case, we can all forget the President’s commitment milestones to improve the quality of life to benefit the people.

Before a voter casts his/her vote, they must be convinced that the candidate knows the job, understands the problems of the nation, has the sincerity to make a believable commitment, the wherewithal to deliver on a clear plan that is doable to address poverty and improve the quality of life for all.

This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or MAP.

 

Romeo G. David is a member of the MAP National Issues Committee and chair and president of BNL Management Corp.

map@map.org.ph

rgdavid2629@yahoo.com

If it’s the thought that counts, what were you thinking?

RAWPIXEL.COM-FREEPIK

The COVID-19 pandemic and the series of lockdowns that ensued have gotten most of us rethinking what we have spent money on in the past two years. However, with restrictions easing up just before Christmas, some of us have started thinking about how to spend the holidays and what gifts to get for our loved ones and colleagues. “It’s the thought that counts” is probably the most cliché statement we all know about gift-giving. But it got me thinking: what do we really think about when we make gift purchase decisions? Naturally, as a graduate student, aspiring researcher, and self-confessed nerd, I turned to peer-reviewed journal articles for answers. Here’s what I found.

You were thinking of them. Gift-giving is a prosocial behavior. According to Julian Givi and Jeff Galak in their article in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research (2020), by spending time and money on gifts, givers are presumably acting in the best interest of their recipients. However, gift-giving is also welfare-reducing. According to Zeev Shtudiner in Economics Bulletin (2020), economists have found giving gifts in kind to be inefficient because givers don’t always know the recipients’ preferences with certainty. Thus, a gift in kind often costs more than the value that it gives to the recipient. So, if we, as gift givers, are really thinking about gifts that maximize the utility or satisfaction of the recipients, isn’t money the safest bet? And yet, some of us shy away from giving monetary gifts because it seems impersonal, maybe even tacky.

I recently gave monetary gifts to friends for various reasons and occasions. Based on our exchanges afterwards, all of them expressed appreciation for the gifts. When I asked one friend how receiving a monetary gift made her feel, she said that she didn’t think it was any less thoughtful than a gift in kind. If anything, it was more practical because it removed the guesswork from me and allowed her to decide what she needed or wanted.

You were thinking of yourself. Givi and Galak cited prior research that indicated that our gift-giving motives are not entirely altruistic. The authors’ research findings also suggested that gift givers sometimes give precedence to their desire to be unique gift givers (that is, they give gifts that other people will not think of giving) over their recipients’ preferences. In other words, we choose gifts based on how they make us look to the receivers. But do our selfish motives necessarily invalidate our gift-giving?

I don’t think that gift-giving must be altruistic to be meaningful or even thoughtful and personal. What I take away from these two articles is that we also derive satisfaction from the act of gift-giving just as the recipients of our gifts enjoy receiving them. But for those of us who are looking to give “the best gift ever,” here’s one more thing to think about.

Think about what the recipient will experience. Ines Branco-Illondo and Teresa Heath identified the properties of “best gifts ever” in their article in the Journal of Business Research (2020). The authors described the “best gift ever” as experiential, memorable, and life-changing. The “best gift ever” is described by Branco-Illondo and Heath’s informants as life-changing because it fulfilled a seemingly unattainable desire, related to a change in the giver’s or receiver’s life, and was “associated with “magical or otherwise mysterious elements.” We enjoy receiving gifts that symbolize changes in our lives.

But perhaps the key to gift-giving is to not overthink it and to just enjoy every moment—from browsing online or walking around in the stores, to wrapping them up, to exchanging gifts, to watching the receivers’ reactions, and to sharing laughter afterwards.

 

Liza Mae L. Fumar is a PhD in Business student of De La Salle University, where she also teaches Human Behavior in Organizations and Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance. Her research interests include consumer behavior and green consumption. She finds gift-giving to be delightful and stressful at the same time.

liza.fumar@dlsu.edu.ph

Tax pressure and motorcycle taxis

MACROVECTOR-FREEPIK

The Philippines’ growth scenario has somehow turned optimistic, with the belief that we can probably return to the 2019 level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP, the monetary value of all finished goods and services made within a country during a specific period) of P19.38 trillion by around the third quarter 2022. GDP size contracted to only P17.53 trillion in 2020.

Such optimism is not reflected in the government’s fiscal position because it continues to deteriorate. For instance, government borrowings per month on average were P73 billion in 2019, then shot up to P208 billion in 2020, and P247 billion until October 2021. More borrowings, higher public debt today means higher taxes tomorrow.

In 2017, the budget deficit (revenues lower than expenditures) was only P351 billion and government raised many excise taxes. Oil and coal products were among those taxed higher (see Table 1).

Tax pressure will begin in 2022 as the new administration will have to raise some existing taxes or create new ones and oil products are likely among those that will be affected. When oil prices are high, partly due to high oil taxes, many people shift to motorcycles because the oil mileage on average is three to five times better than cars. For those who are scared to drive motorcycles or ride bicycles and are in a hurry, they will take a motorcycle taxi, which is cheaper than a regular (car) taxi.

Compared to neighbors in the ASEAN, the Philippines has a modest number of registered motorcycles — 7.33 million in 2020 including tricycles, lower than eight million in 2019 probably because many motorcycle owners did not register their vehicles anymore.

The number of taxis in the Philippines has also declined from the 2013 level, probably because technology and app-based ride hailing cars have become more popular (see Table 2).

MOTORCYCLE TAXI
Currently there is no law that allows motorcycle (MC) taxis so a bill was filed, but Congress wanted data to guide them in crafting the bill. So, a pilot project was launched with three players — Joyride, Angkas, and Move It — as participants. A fourth player, Grab Philippines, was not included, with no clear reason why. The pilot project has been ongoing for almost two years already and overseen by the MC Taxi Technical Working Group (MCT TWG), composed of the Department of Transportation (DoTr), the Land Transportation Office (LTO), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Philippine National Police (PNP), and Inter-Agency Council for Traffic  (I-ACT).

Meanwhile, illegal “habal-habal” motorcycle taxis freely operate in many areas of the country, especially in Mindanao, and even in Metro Manila. They exist because there is passenger demand.

Consider these three recent reports in BusinessWorld:

1. “Grab PHL, MOVE IT partner for motorcycle taxi hailing services” (Sept. 23),

2. “Transport workers allocated P10 billion for service contracts” (Nov. 22),

3. “Motorcycle taxis are here to stay,” Opinion by Enrique F. Nitura (Nov. 23).

Report No. 1 is about the entry of Grab Philippines as a fourth player in MC taxi. The Grab PHL and Move It partnership was allowed by the MCT TWG on Sept. 23, and cancelled by Oct. 1.

Report No. 2 is about the government subsidy to bus companies, mainly in Metro Manila, that give “Libreng Sakay” (free rides), also certain jeepney groups. Such a subsidy however, is not extended to regular taxis or motorcycle taxis.

Report No. 3 is an opinion by the author that one problem is an antiquated Land Transportation and Traffic Code (RA 4136, 1964) which does not consider motorcycles as public utility automobiles.

SEN. RALPH RECTO ON MOTORCYCLE TAXIS
On Oct. 11, 2020, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto issued a press statement arguing that “Allowing motorcyle taxis will save jobs, expand transport options without need for government bailout… one job-creating public service that will not cost the government a single centavo… one motorcycle taxi driver back on the road is one ayuda recipient off the list. And a big chunk of the cost of gas they buy are taxes that help pay for health services.”

Mr. Recto added that “stringent health and safety standards” be put in place. On the high joblessness rate, “One culprit is the lack of transportation. We’ve given too much focus on ease of doing business for corporations. We should also find ways on how there can be ease of going to work for employees.”

Amen to that, Sen. Ralph.

In a Philippine Daily Inquirer story on Dec. 8, “Motorcycle taxis in PH: Weighing convenience, safety,” it reported the following:

“In February 2020, the Technical Working Group (TWG) on motorcycle taxis said 46,713 motorcycles had been registered in the government’s initial move to allow their operations on condition of documentary and regulatory completion based on the TWG’s revised guidelines.

“… In November 2020, as COVID-19 lockdowns were eased, 10,400 riders (6,400 from Angkas and 4,000 from Joyride) were allowed to operate motorcycle taxis.

“… the Metro Manila Development Authority said an average of 86 motorcycle-related accidents occurred daily in Metro Manila in 2019. A total of 31,729 accidents were reported while 221 individuals died.”

So, a duopoly, Angkas and Joyride, has legal entity to continue motorcycle taxi operation even without legislation. Whether the duopoly provides insurance for the passengers in case of serious accidents is not clear.

THE TWG DECISION
On Dec. 10, the MCT TWG permanently terminated the Grab-Move It collaboration. It recognized that the partnership had generated jobs and served the public, but decided to stop the partnership because they had already anointed a duopoly. Move It seems to be a small third player and still training and recruiting drivers.

The TWG has ruled that the fourth player, and perhaps other future players, can come in only if the bill legalizing motorcycle taxis has become a law.

There are bad implications in this decision by the TWG.

One, they have anointed a duopoly — they allowed only Joyride and Angkas to continue operating without legislation while waiting for the final legislation.

Two, they have deprived thousands of aspiring motorcycle taxi drivers from other players the right to earn an income. As Mr. Recto said, these drivers do not aspire for even a single centavo of subsidy from taxpayers, they just want to work, legally.

Three, they have deprived thousands of passengers, people who need the speed and low fares of motorcycle taxis and who are scared or unable to drive a motorcycle even if they can afford to buy one.

Four, it creates a moral hazard problem in Congress and lobbyists for the duopoly. If Congress fails to enact the bill into a law before the elections of 2022 or after, the duopoly is protected and granted the continued privilege to operate.

THE WAY FORWARD
To avoid the four pitfalls mentioned above, the TWG should allow more players to come in while waiting for legislation. Give justice to the aspiring drivers and passengers needing more choices. Whatever safety regulations are required of the duopoly should apply to the new players. Enough of bureaucratic restrictions and prohibitions.

Congress should also hasten the legislation allowing motorcycle taxis and invite as many players to join as possible. More competition and more choices are always in favor of the passengers.

 

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the president of Minimal Government Thinkers.

minimalgovernment@gmail.com

New Zealand is banning tobacco. Will anyone follow?

FREEPIK

IF YOU’RE a smoker who wants to indulge your habit while gazing over the mountains of the South Pacific, you’d do well to move fast. New Zealand last week announced plans to become the first nation in the world to ban tobacco.

Prohibition won’t happen overnight. Instead, the country will raise the legal smoking age each year, so that people born after 2008 will never be allowed to puff. That will eventually mean that tobacco smoking — a practice that’s been prevalent in the Americas for thousands of years, and spread around the world after Christopher Columbus introduced it to Europe — may finally start disappearing from one corner of the planet.

This may be a taste of things to come. The Netherlands will ban supermarket sales of tobacco starting in 2024, and the Medical Journal of Australia last month called for a New Zealand-style phaseout policy in that country. One in four Americans supported a total smoking ban in a 2018 survey by Gallup.

I confess to having distinctly mixed feelings about this. Smoking kills more than 8 million people every year, making it a scourge at least on the scale of COVID-19, which has caused about 5.3 million recorded deaths over the past two years (alcohol, far more widespread, contributes to about 3 million annual deaths). That alone is reason enough to restrict the practice.

I’ve never been a smoker, but am old enough to remember the time when an evening out in my birth country, the UK, would leave your clothes stinking of tar. Thin-end-of-the-wedge arguments were trotted out before a 2007 law there banned smoking in all indoor workplaces. They came out again before a 2012 law in my current home of Australia, which mandated unbranded, and deliberately repellent, packaging for all tobacco products. In fact, both countries are far better off for the measures that have been introduced. The worst that can be said of them is that, while they’ve accelerated the decline of tobacco consumption, it’s still pretty widespread.

At the same time, we’re now at the point where the thick end of those wedges is hoving into view. If you’d suggested 14 years ago that banning smoking in pubs might ultimately lead to states prohibiting adults from undertaking activities that only harm themselves, it would have been dismissed as alarmist. But that’s what we’re looking at now. Restrictions on indoor smoking and packaging protect bystanders from passive fumes and reduce the marketing power of cigarette businesses — outcomes that serve to enhance the welfare of all individuals. Further restrictions to limit the exposures of children and fellow householders to second-hand smoking in the home and private vehicles might be justified on the same grounds, even if they would be challenging to enforce. Outright bans, however, limit the scope of choice that the generation of New Zealanders who grow into this new law will be allowed to make.

That sits oddly with the current shift toward more liberal policies on similar matters. More than half of US states have now legalized or decriminalized cannabis for recreational uses. Portugal and Oregon have even decriminalized possession of hard drugs. A referendum on legalizing cannabis only narrowly failed at New Zealand’s election last year, and another on euthanasia passed with a hefty majority.

It’s hard to justify that differential treatment on harm grounds. Cannabis use disorders are roughly as common among users as tobacco addiction is among the general population. The links between pot smoking and the respiratory, lung, and heart problems associated with cigarettes are surprisingly weak, and there’s a dearth of good quality studies that aren’t confounded by the fact that most cannabis smokers use tobacco, too. However, there are much clearer correlations between cannabis use and mental health problems including schizophrenia and psychosis, as well as educational under-attainment. Society may deem those risks an acceptable price to pay for the pain relief benefits and enjoyment that many people get from cannabis — but with the speed at which the drug is being decriminalized, there’s been precious little discussion of the issue.

The New Zealand policy won’t eradicate nicotine addiction. Vaping devices, which are used by New Zealand teenagers at a rate two to three times higher than smoked tobacco, won’t be affected. As with any prohibition, it also runs the risk of encouraging organized crime. Illegal consumption of tobacco in Australia has been slowly but surely ticking up for several years now in response to that country’s punitive tobacco tax policies, providing a steadily rising stream of black-market revenue.

What’s clear is that the current breed of tobacco control policies aren’t succeeding in bringing down voluntary smoking fast enough without harmful side-effects of their own. The very high taxes imposed in New Zealand and Australia — a 25-stick pack of Marlboro Gold at my local supermarket costs A$48.95 ($35) — don’t seem to be enough to break the power of addiction. Ultimately, they mean the underprivileged communities who still smoke at the highest rates have to pay regressive taxes on top of their other problems.* In New Zealand, for instance, smoking is far more common among the Indigenous Maori and Pacific Islander people than the general population.

That suggests a change of direction toward a limited and gradual, but ultimately more absolute measure like that being introduced in New Zealand is worthwhile, even just so the rest of the world can see whether it’s a success or a failure. Smokers themselves, few of whom feel great loyalty to their self-destructive habit, are often supportive of tobacco control policies. A 2019 survey in Sweden found former users were only slightly less in favor of such laws than the general population, while one recent study of 6,014 smokers in Pakistan found that 82% supported a complete ban.

Liberal societies will rightly seek to enhance individuals’ sovereignty over their bodies, and tread carefully when they take those freedoms away. Addictive drugs already violate that sovereignty, though, by making it physically or psychologically painful to give them up. Tobacco prohibition in New Zealand will certainly infringe on people’s freedoms. Tobacco addiction, however, has been doing that for centuries.

*Smokers in rich countries end up causing an extra burden on the public healthcare budget because of their poor health —but the brutal truth is that they also save money on public pensions, because so many die before their time.

Bloomberg Philanthropies — the foundation run by Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Opinion — has invested $1.1 billion in fighting tobacco use globally.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

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