Our drinking culture is killing us

With the holidays approaching, festive gatherings and celebrations are ramping up, bringing family, friends, and colleagues together. Alcohol often flows freely at these events, but it’s worth taking a moment to think more carefully about the role drinking plays in these settings.

While less than half of Filipinos drink regularly, our culture has normalized and glamorized alcohol, creating an environment that often encourages harmful behavior. As a result, we see high rates of binge drinking, with nearly half of drinkers consuming excessive amounts in a single session.

Alcohol harm is a public health issue affecting families, communities, and society. According to the World Health Organization, alcohol contributes to over 200 diseases and injuries, placing a heavy social cost on society. It caused over 2.6 million deaths worldwide in 2019. In the Philippines alone, alcohol contributed to more than 27,000 deaths, primarily from noncommunicable diseases like cirrhosis, cardiovascular disease, and liver cancer. These chronic conditions strain both individuals and the health-care system.

While many Filipinos understand alcohol’s risks on the liver, its impact on heart disease and cancer is underestimated despite the evidence. Alcohol-fueled noncommunicable diseases not only lead to premature deaths but also contribute to high treatment costs and loss of productivity.

Alcohol harm is not confined to the individual; it poses significant risks to vulnerable groups like youth, women, and children, increasing the likelihood of violence, road accidents, and other societal problems.

The youth are especially vulnerable to alcohol’s effects. Alcohol is the leading risk factor among Filipinos aged 15 to 29, accounting for 20.3 percent of their deaths. Young drinkers face higher risks of binge drinking, leading to accidents, injuries, and increased susceptibility to alcohol-use disorders later in life. Early exposure to drinking brings compounded health risks and economic disadvantages, including rising health costs and lost productivity. Families bear both the emotional and financial toll of such preventable harm, including the premature loss of young ones to alcohol-related issues.

The impact of alcohol on women and children is just as alarming. Per data from the National Demographic Health Survey (2022), women with partners who drink alcohol are twice to five times more likely to experience intimate partner violence. This is a horrifying reality that illustrates how alcohol, as a psychoactive and toxic substance, can fuel aggressive and violent tendencies among drinkers.

Alcohol also contributes significantly to road crashes. Around a quarter of all road crash deaths in the Philippines are linked to alcohol use, often as a result of “drink driving” (Global Burden of Diseases, 2021). Unlike “drunk driving,” where drivers are fully intoxicated, drink driving emphasizes that even at lower levels, alcohol consumption can impair reaction time, judgment, and coordination, creating a high-risk situation on the road. This doesn’t just endanger the driver; it endangers everyone on the road, turning routine commutes into tragedies.

We must challenge the normalization of alcohol in our culture. The alcohol industry would like to shift responsibility to individuals by promoting vague calls to “drink moderately,” while sidestepping the profound impact alcohol has on communities. Through aggressive marketing, celebrity endorsements, and sponsorships of popular events, alcohol becomes glamorized as a lifestyle choice. Meanwhile, the industry resists policies that aim to protect young people, women, and children from the harmful effects of alcohol, framing alcohol issues as stemming from a few “problematic individuals” rather than addressing the societal-level harm it brings.

This is not to advocate alcohol prohibition, but a call for the implementation of policies, including higher taxes and stronger regulations to reduce alcohol harm, mitigate health-care costs, and enhance the safety and productivity of individuals across communities. This is meant to save lives, protect families, and free up resources for other essential needs.

We all stand to gain from a culture where alcohol’s role is questioned, where we prioritize health and safety, and where responsible policies are in place to shield the most vulnerable from alcohol’s harm. It’s time to hold both the industry and the government accountable for protecting peoples’ health and well-being.

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AJ Montesa is with the Fiscal Policy Team Lead at Action for Economic Reform, a think tank founded in 1996 that conducts policy analysis and advocacy on macroeconomic reforms.