Smoke-free casino icon for healthy lifestyle

SAN FERNANDO CITY—A smoke-free casino operating in this city has become the unlikely icon for a crusade devoted to healthy lifestyles.

The casino at Thunderbird Resort inside the Poro Point Freeport has not allowed smoking since 2007 when the city government enacted an ordinance banning smoking, Mayor Pablo Ortega said.

Ortega reaffirmed the city’s smoke-free status on Sept. 19 during the La Union leg of a nationwide smoke-free caravan mounted by running priest, Fr. Robert Reyes, and officials of the Philippine Medical Association (PMA).

Michael Aragon, PMA media affairs chair, said the city’s smoke-free status was unique because La Union is a tobacco-producing province.

Tobacco is one of the top products in the Ilocos region and has been an integral component of Ilocano life.

Ortega noted that revenue generated from tobacco excise taxes in this city amounts to P30 million but said it was prepared to forego this income to eliminate smoking in the city.

Ordinance 305-2007 prohibits smoking in “theaters, public vehicles, public offices, assembly halls, hospitals and schools.” It penalizes violators with a P300 fine.

The same ordinance applies to Fiesta Casino of Thunderbird Resort in the free port.

A frequent casino guest said what used to be a nook for non-smokers at the casino was converted into a smokers’ space, fitted with three “diffusers” which suck out smoke using a vacuum mechanism. Aside from this area, smokers can smoke in the parking lot, the guest said.

Even electric cigarettes, which hardly emit any smoke, cannot be used in the gaming area. Just like regular cigarettes, the electronic variety has to be “consumed in the smoking area,” he said.

But this policy has not stopped casino patrons from coming in. “Kapag may artista, wala kang maupuan (When there are celebrities there, you can’t even get seats),” the source said.

Ortega said the city government had yet to arrest a violator of the ordinance.

“We don’t want to pressure people into complying until we put up signs around the city. We won’t penalize violators yet,” he said.

He also said he was considering putting up smoking areas around the city.