Youth smoking doubles as illegal cigarettes flood PHL market

Youth smoking in the Philippines has doubled in just two years, and health officials say the culprit is clear: the unabated influx of cheap, illegal cigarettes and unregulated vapes that have made nicotine more accessible to teenagers than ever before.

Latest government data from the Food and Nutrition Institute – Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST) show that 4.8 percent of Filipinos aged 10–19 smoked in 2023, up from 2.3 percent in 2021.

The jump is steepest among older teens, with nearly 14 percent of 18–19-year-olds now smokers, while vaping among youth smokers surged from 7.5 percent to almost 40 percent in the same period.

Department of Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa explained this shift in a recent forum where he also detailed the specific dangers of the unregulated products flooding the market.

“When we increased the price of cigarettes, smoking prevalence went down from 27% down to 19%,” he said. “Unfortunately, nauso naman po ang vaping. Ngayon mas maraming kababayan natin ang nalululong sa vaping.”

(Unfortunately, vaping became popular. Now, more of our countrymen are hooked on vaping.)

The Department of Trade and Industry reported seizing ₱41 million worth of illicit vapes between January and May 2025, spanning 88 brands, but officials admit this is just a fraction of what circulates nationwide.

Independent monitoring shows that nearly one in five cigarettes sold in the country come from illegal sources, a shadow market that thrives on weak enforcement and porous borders.

Confiscations and price monitoring show illicit cigarette packs selling for as low as ₱40 a pack, a fraction of legal, tax-paid brands sold at a ₱130/pack. This drastically lowers the price barrier for price-sensitive teens, resulting in a generation initiated into smoking earlier and more cheaply, with addiction rates climbing sharply.

In the DOST-FNRI survey presented last year, nutrition researchers warned that these numbers point to a looming health crisis.

The same FNRI study showed that smoking prevalence among adults has also increased to 23.2% of the adult population in 2023 from only 18.5% in 2021 — the first time since 2005 that smoking incidence in the country increased, the year that the Philippines signed the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) and enacted several laws on tobacco control including the Sin Tax Law, Graphic Health Warnings Law, etc.

Despite all the laws in place, illicit cigarettes and vapes continue to proliferate, a sign of weak enforcement from both the national and local governments.

Public health and good governance advocates Pinoy Aksyon argue the problem is not just medical but also economic. Excise taxes on cigarettes and vapes are supposed to bankroll the Universal Health Care law, but the government loses at least ₱40 billion annually to illicit trade.

Pinoy Aksyon convenor Bencyrus Ellorin urges the government to clamp down on smuggling routes, illegal distributors and online sellers.

“Even in online shopping platfroms, fake and illegal cigarettes are so accessible.  The country faces both an overwhelmed health system and a new generation locked into nicotine addiction. We ask the government to look into this crisis deeply and implement laws,” Pinoy Aksyon warns.