ProYosi

ProYosi (“Pro-Cigarette”) is a smokers’ consumer advocacy group based in Iloilo City, the Philippines, campaigning against what it views as discrimination of the country’s 17 million smokers. ¹ It was incorporated as a registered non-profit organisation²on 26 February 2016, although its existence pre-dates this by several years according to local health advocates. ³
ProYosi calls itself the “Voice of Filipino/Pinoy Smokers”. It does not disclose how many members it has, nor who funds it, although it has attempted limited online fundraising. ⁴ It campaigns against the Philippines government’s health taxes⁵
and tobacco control legislation including the use of graphic health warnings, ⁶ public smoking bans and designated smoking areas.
Its President is Anton “Tony” Israel, a former TV presenter who also runs another organisation called the Nicotine Consumers Union of the Philippines (NCUP), which he created Facebook Pages for in January 2014 and August 2018⁷and registered with regulators⁸
on 12 November 2018. Both groups have their own dedicated Facebook pages⁹ listing the same contact number. Israel produces and presents weekly Facebook Live broadcasts on smoking-related issues and legislation. Titled “NCUP Files” and “Kamusta Kayosi” these are presented with two colleagues, Fausto Bubot Francisco and Ahdrian Reyes, ¹⁰
and are cross-posted on both sites.

Modelled on International Smokers’ Rights Groups

Among ProYosi and NCUP’s shared Facebook content are posts from tobacco companies and tobacco-industry funded international smokers’ rights groups such as Forest (Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco) in the UK. Like such groups, ProYosi positions smokers as the victims of tobacco control advocates who infringe upon their right to enjoy a legal product. ¹¹ A rallying cry to its Facebook followers (2,492 as of mid-October 2019) states:

“Smokers, it’s high time we unite and uphold our rights. Proyosi was created to protect the interests of tobacco consumers and balance the unwarranted impacts of ‘hate’ campaigns against us by intolerant anti-smoking groups”.

“Smokers have given-up enough. Still, the smoking ban pushers want even more. Now is no longer about health, but a liberty issue”.

NCUP’s Facebook page (which had 542 followers in October 2019) meanwhile focuses on “Freedom of Consumer Choice” with straplines like “Come on, Let’s Fight Hard”. Since NCUP was created in 2018, ProYosi’s content and messaging has moved beyond a traditional cigarette smoker focus to embrace consumers of other tobacco products: “Smokers, vapers and all nicotine lovers, let’s unite and fight”. Three months before the 2nd Asian Harm Reduction Forum was due to be held in Manila, a special ProYosi episode on 30 August 2018 focused on “Exploring the potential of uniting all nicotine-based consumers”. ¹²

Echoing Tobacco Industry Arguments

Against Public Smoking Bans and Designated Smoking Areas

A major focus of concern for ProYosi has been President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No 26 (EO 26), which in May 2017 banned smoking and vaping in enclosed public places and indoor venues across the country. ¹³ ProYosi campaigned hard for self-regulation and against “misinformation” amid initial confusion this was an “absolute” public smoking ban, and carefully praised Duterte for “striking a balance” between the rights of smokers and non-smokers. ¹⁴
ProYosi sees its role as “correcting misinformation on smoking in public places” ¹⁵ and maintains a watch on cases of what it views as “excessive” interpretations and strict enforcement of EO26 by local government units (LGUs). One episode, for example, examined what it called the “Nannyism of the Quezon City Government” as the city stepped up an anti-smoking drive in June 2018. ¹⁶ Anton Israel has also spoken at congressional public hearings, for example in March 2018 on proposals to amend the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, ¹⁷ and in February 2019 at the Senate Ways and Means Committee Hearing on Excise Tax on Tobacco Products. ¹⁸

Arguments Against “Sin Taxes” Rises

Smokers and the Tobacco Industry Deserve Equal Rights as Taxpayers

In 2019, ProYosi joined tobacco growers and the Federation of Philippines Industries in opposing the Philippines government’s latest rise in taxes on cigarettes from P45 to P90 a pack as part of Bill No.1074. This also aimed to raise the tax on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTPs) in parity with cigarettes. ¹⁹ Since 2012, taxes on tobacco and alcohol have been used to fund 85% of the country’s health care system costs, with 15% earmarked for tobacco farmers and workers’ livelihood programmes. ²⁰
In February 2019, ProYosi’s Anton Israel spoke at the Senate public hearing on Excise Tax on Tobacco Products.²¹ ProYosi’s submission to the Senate Ways and Means Committee argued that – as taxpayers – tobacco consumers and the tobacco industry “deserve equal protection under the law” ²²
and that it was time to stop hitting them disproportionately to raise money for the health service:

“From 2013 to 2018, there have been seven consecutive increases on tobacco products. No other product has been taxed this many times as tobacco. Not even alcohol, mining or gambling,” Pro-Yosi President Anton Israel said.

“The tobacco industry also deserves equal protection under the law. Tobacco consumers are also taxpayers who deserve the same protection as those who consume alcohol or sweetened beverages.”

Promoting Harm Reduction and Vaping

ProYosi has increasingly covered vaping and harm reduction since setting up NCUP in 2018. This has included the addition of pro-vaper Ahdrian Reyes to the team, and a number of dedicated Facebook Live episodes on topics such as “Harm Reduction: What is It?” (Sept 2019).
In October 2019, NCUP dedicated a 25-minute episode²³ to a legal injunction filed by private vaping companies challenging the constitutionality of the Department of Health’s and Food and Drug Administration’s July 2019 administrative order (AO 2019-007), which aims to regulating electronic cigarettes and vaping devices. ²⁴

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Third Party Techniques
• Lobbying Decision Makers

Relevant Resources

• Facebook ProYosi
• Facebook Nicotine Consumers Union of the Philippines