Duterte makes pitch for smoking ban

An oxygen machine (encircled) is seen in President Duterte’s bedroom. —PHOTO FROM MANS CARPIO’S FACEBOOK PAGE

SOCORRO, Oriental Mindoro—President Duterte on Wednesday vowed to implement a smoking ban in the country as he shared his health woes, including his need to use an oxygen machine because of his oxygenation problem from years of smoking.

Speaking before residents and local officials here, Mr. Duterte disclosed that he was using an oxygen machine when sleeping.

“My oxygenation is not good because of smoking,” said the President, who has since kicked the habit.

He earlier admitted to having Buerger’s disease, a condition in which blood vessels constrict due to the accumulation of nicotine.

The President, who turned 72 on Tuesday, also said he could not eat whatever he wanted because he had to watch his cholesterol level.

He also has to be careful about his sugar intake and has to refrain from drinking alcohol because of his Barret’s esophagus, a serious complication of gastroesophageal reflux disease, which involves changes in the tissue lining the esophagus.

In promising to implement the no-smoking law “in the coming months,” Mr. Duterte joked that those who wanted to light up could only do so in the open sea.

“At least 5 kilometers from the coastal shores. You go there,” he said in jest.

Mr. Duterte has been studying the draft executive order on the smoking ban, which may be patterned after a measure implemented in Davao City where he was a longtime mayor.

As the city’s chief executive, he was known for his strict implementation of the antismoking ordinance.

He reportedly made a tourist swallow a cigarette butt after the latter questioned the ordinance’s prohibition on smoking in public places.