Smoking ban not Aquino’s problem–Palace

THE WORLD of smokers like President Aquino is getting smaller every day, but that doesn’t faze Malacañang’s chief tenant.

“We don’t have any problem with that and, of course, it’s the law and we all have to follow it,” the President’s spokesperson Abigail Valte said on Saturday in reaction to a statement from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) expanding the areas covered by the smoking ban.

Violators will be fined P500 on the first offense. Those who cannot pay the fine will be made to do eight hours of community service.

The Philippines has a law banning smoking in public places dating from 2003, but it has largely been ignored in a country where, according to surveys, 28 percent of Filipinos aged 15 years and over, or 17.3 million people, are smokers.

Cigarettes kill 87,600 Filipinos every year, resulting in P148 billion in annual economic losses, according to statistics gathered by the Department of Health and the World Health Organization.

That means 7,300 Filipinos die from smoking every month, or 243 every day—or 10 every hour.

No problem

Even so, the Palace doesn’t see the MMDA campaign as a problem for Mr. Aquino, a known smoker.

For one, the President doesn’t smoke in public, Valte said in a text message.

She maintained that the MMDA policy “doesn’t prohibit smoking per se” but only regulates “where smokers can and can’t puff away.”

She also said there were other issues that should be discussed instead of the President’s smoking habit.

A memorandum of agreement officially launching the “100% Smoke-Free Metro” campaign is scheduled to be signed on Monday at the MMDA headquarters by MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino, Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chair Nelson Laluces, and the 17 city mayors of the metropolis.

“We are not against the smokers or the tobacco industry, but we want to protect the rights of the nonsmokers,” said Dr. Loida Labao-Alzona, head of the MMDA Health Public Safety and Environmental Protection.

MMDA enforcers will arrest violators along main roads under its jurisdiction while local government units will carry out the arrests on secondary roads within Metro, she said.

Where not to smoke

Alzona said public places covered by the smoking ban are all schools, hospitals, youth recreation centers, overpasses and underpasses, loading and unloading bays, transport terminals and roads within 100 meters of those places, including sidewalks.

Smokers inside parked or moving public utility vehicles will also be arrested, she said.

The campaign aims to implement Republic Act No. 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, and the smoking prohibitions of the LTFRB and local ordinances.

Arrests begin in July

Alzona said that government offices would decide if they would follow the new campaign.

But she cited Civil Service Commission Memorandum Circular No. 17, which bans smoking in government offices and allows building administrators to arrest violators.

The MMDA has set a month-long period—or throughout June—to inform the public of its new campaign and will start arresting people only in July.

MMDA traffic enforcers are not allowed to make arrests or issue violation tickets to smokers but they can “warn and remind” violators, Alzona said.

Appeal to P-Noy

Sixty-four environmental enforcers are assigned to monitor major roads, while local government enforcers have their own mechanisms to implement the program on secondary roads, Alzona said.

“We must be very strict in implementing our antismoking regulation,” Tolentino said. “We should transform Metro Manila into a smoke-free community.”

Health advocates have repeatedly called on Mr. Aquino to lead the no-smoking campaign and quit smoking.

Maricar Limpin, executive director of the antismoking lobby Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance Philippines, lauded the intensified MMDA campaign.

Limpin said the government should go beyond its campaign and prod Congress to pass legislation to raise taxes on tobacco. With a report from AFP