Good news for anti-smoking advocates! President Duterte is expected
to sign this month an order declaring a nationwide smoking ban.
According to Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial, the draft executive order
providing for a smoking-free Philippines is awaiting Duterte’s
signature.
“We already submitted the draft executive order and the President will probably sign it within October,” Ubial told reporters.
Ubial also said that the executive order is almost a duplicate of the ordinance providing for a total smoking ban in Davao City.
Once the executive order is signed and becomes effective, all public places in the country will be 100 percent smoke free, whether indoors or outdoors. Parks, bus, stations, and even in vehicles are not eexempted because they are still considered as public places.
The President earlier reiterated his plan to impose a total ban on
smoking, which he said only brings diseases to both smokers and
non-smokers.
The Department of Health (DOH) will also be pushing for an amendment of the existing Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.
“We are still trying to explore amending the law, RA 9211, because of
the many contentious issues and gray areas,” Ubial explained.
She cited point-of-sale advertisements and the designation of smoking areas as among the gray areas in the existing law.
“What we want is to remove the gray areas in the current law and
totally prohibit point-of-sale advertisements as well as designation of
indoor smoking areas,” Ubial said.
Ubial just shrugged off possible attempt by tobacco companies to stop the imposition of a total smoking ban in the country.
“It is up to you to oppose. It is already the President you will be fighting against,” she said.
Source: Philippine Star
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