MANILA, Philippines - The government may adopt the technology used by cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. Inc. to collect excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco.

The Philip Morris alternative technology is said to be less expensive compared to the one being offered by Swiss company SICPA Security Products SA.

SICPA offered a technology-driven track-and-trace system seen to generate billions of pesos a year in incremental revenues, but will require manufacturers to incur costs they have to pass on to consumers.

SICPA’s proposal entails the printing of tamper-proof tax stamps to be affixed on cigarette packs. Cigarette manufacturers will place their orders for the stamps through an online system connected to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and SICPA. The stamps will be given to the manufacturers after an approval from the BIR. SICPA’s system is estimated to cost about 52 centavos per cigarette pack.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said the government will first need to ensure that the country's main collection agency has the legal basis to enter into agreements with private entities.

In June, the Department of Justice barred the BIR from proceeding with talks with SICPA, citing BIR is encroaching on the authority of Congress to enact revenue measures and the proposal’s alleged failure to meet financial and legal criteria.

Henares said this puts at risk BIR's capacity to impose fees and charges.

Previously, Chris Nelson, Philip Morris Philippines president offered the technology, called Codentify, a numeric bar code-based system used in Germany and Portugal, and is a cheaper alternative to the stamp-based system proposed in 2006 by SICPA.

Nelson said Codentify is designed to enable authorities to promptly check the legality of specific packs by texting the number to the system for verification. It is supposed to minimize costs by eliminating proprietary code-reading scanners and training.

Under Section 8a of Republic Act 8424, or the Tax Reform Act of 1997, internal revenue stamps, whether of a bar code or fusion design, should be firmly and conspicuously affixed on each pack of cigars and cigarettes to enable authorities to check if the correct excise tax has been paid.