3 vape smokers nabbed in Lucena

LUCENA CITY – Three vape smokers were arrested in this city on Sunday and Monday after the Philippine National Police (PNP) started enforcing President Rodrigo Duterte’s ban on the use of e-cigarettes in public.

Lt. Colonel Romulo Albacea, Lucena police chief, identified the violators as Christian Jader, 29; Jearl Guevarra, 21; and Spencer Mesina, 19.

Jader and Guevarra were nabbed while smoking e-cigarette in a beach resort in Barangay (village) Talao-Talao around 5 p.m.

Mesina was apprehended while using vape along the busy Granja street in Barangay 1 around 2 a.m. Monday.

Authorities brought the violators at the police station, recorded their names on the blotter, and released them afterward.

Police confiscated their e-cigarettes.

On Thursday, another vape smoker was also caught in the act of smoking e-cigarette along Quezon Avenue in the city’s downtown area.

The crackdown against vaping in public started after the order was issued by Duterte on Tuesday, banning the importation of e-cigarettes and its use in public areas.

Despite the arrests, however, the PNP has yet to specify the charges to be filed against those caught violating the President’s verbal order.