Ex-heavy smokers turn anti-smoking advocates

Dumaguete  City — Edmund Tubac and Melvyn Reynado have a lot in common, aside from being councilors in Amlan town, 21 kilometers north of here.

Both were heavy smokers for 40 years until they kicked the habit. They are now at the forefront of a campaign against smoking in their town.

Tubac, a former policeman, stopped smoking after a third heart attack forced him to go through quadruple heart bypass surgery in 2008.

Reynado gave up smoking after his wife, a non-smoker, needed angioplasty as a result of years of inhaling second-hand smoke.

“We never thought second-hand smoke can also be deadly,” said Reynado.

Their ordeals pushed Tubac and Reynado to lead an aggressive anti-smoking campaign in their town.

They said they had to strengthen the enforcement of the ordinance because not everybody could have a chance to avail of financial help that they obtained through the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Negros Oriental Rep. George Arnaiz.

Tubac said his quadruple bypass was so expensive that his family would rather not discuss it openly lest he suffers another heart attack.

“This ordinance is the only help I can offer my town mates to help them stop smoking,” Tubac said.

On July 15, 2009, the Amlan municipal council passed the anti-smoking ordinance.

The law provided fines and community service as penalties.

Amlan Mayor Bentham dela Cruz said several persons had rendered community service for smoking in public places.

Dela Cruz said kicking the addiction was not easy. It took male residents a lot of convincing to stop smoking, including the prospect of not being able to kiss their wives if they reeked of cigarette odor.

As a result of the campaign, Dela Cruz said 23 town employees and a number of residents either stopped smoking in public places or had stopped smoking altogether.

Amlan residents apparently agreed with the no-smoking policy since all candidates belonging to the ticket of Mayor Dela Cruz won a third term in 2010.

The municipality of Amlan also won the national Red Orchid Award from the Department of Health last May 30 for exceeding standards set by the DOH on the anti-smoking campaign.

“The challenge now is to maintain our 100 percent rating next year. We hope it can be done,” Dela Cruz said. /INQUIRER