ASOG Research Fellows Presented in CRUK Global Tobacco Webinar Series

November 04, 2021 - Ateneo School of Government (AOSG) Research Fellows namely Dr. Valerie Ulep, Dr. Wency Bui, and Ms. Gayle Amul presented in the second leg of the Global Tobacco Webinar Series spearheaded by Cancer Research UK (CRUK).  The conducted webinar series served as springboard for the ninth Conference of Parties (COP9) to the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the second Member of Parties (MOP2) to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (ITP). 

The first webinar, titled “Tobacco Control: A Critical Piece of the Global Health Puzzle”, was held last October 29, 2021 and highlighted the importance of tobacco taxation when it comes to mitigating the impact that tobacco has on a country’s population health and its economy. The second webinar held last November 4, 2021, titled “Illicit Tobacco Trade - A Barrier to Achieving Tobacco Control” focused on debunking the industry’s argument against tobacco control policies, which was grounded on illicit tobacco trade’s supposed relationship with higher levels of its implementation. 

ASOG Research Fellows in Advancing Tobacco Taxation in Southeast Asia (ATTSEA) project supported by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and CRUK was given the opportunity to present their researches in the second leg of CRUK’s webinar series. Firstly, Dr. Wency Bui Kher Thingg, PhD, a senior lecturer from Universiti Putra Malaysia, tackled the illicit tobacco trade in Malaysia and how important it is to talk about the benefits of tobacco taxation despite unrelenting opposition against the tobacco industry on the subject. 

To provide further support on debunking the opposition’s arguments, Ms. Gianna Gayle H. Amul, MSc, Advisor and Chief Communications Officer of Research for Impact (RFI) SIngapore, tackled the illicit tobacco trade in Singapore, one of the countries with the strictest environments in terms of tobacco control in Southeast Asia. She talked about the progress the country has made in controlling illicit tobacco trade, and challenges it would probably be facing as it continues the fight against illicit tobacco trade. 

Last but not the least, our research fellow from the Philippines who had the opportunity to become a guest speaker in the webinar series was Dr. Valerie Gilbert Ulep, PhD. To help countries make well-informed decisions regarding their own illicit tobacco trade situations amidst insights brought into light by the previous two studies, Dr. Ulep presented a comprehensive index on illicit tobacco trade which takes into account various factors that affect it, such as governance and trade. 

The webinar served as an additional platform to spread the advocacy against illicit tobacco trade to more countries across the globe, and thus, help contribute to discussions that will be happening in COP9 and MOP2.