Philippines: LGUs in CAR Urged to Base Anti–smoking Laws on FCTC

Source from:  Baguio Midland Courier (ph)  05/09/2013

Local government units in Cordillera are urged to craft their own anti-smoking ordinance following the World Health Organization-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) pattern.

The call was made by the group Health Justice, which claimed that tobacco companies are interfering with LGUs planning to adopt anti-smoking code to pattern it with Republic Act 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.

But Atty. Karla Rocas of the Health Justice, a non-government organization pushing for the full and strict implementation of FCTC, said RA 9211 is not addressing the growing number of smokers and secondhand smokers dying in the country.

The Philippines is one of the signatories to the WHO-FCTC.

Rocas said RA 9211 designates smoking areas in establishments, but smokes do not recognize territory reason that even non-smokers are at risk for secondhand smoke.

She revealed when the city council was deliberating on the Baguio Anti-Smoking Ordinance, a tobacco company executive wrote Baguio officials to recommend to the city to include a provision designating smoking and non-smoking areas, which was eventually incorporated in the ordinance.

The WHO-FCTC bans the sale of tobacco products in any manner that makes it directly accessible like in store shelves. It also prohibits the sale of cigarettes individually or in small packs.

She added countries that adopted the WHO FCTC also direct tobacco companies to include pictures of diseases caused by smoking in cigarette packs.

Most tobacco companies in the country follow RA 9211 by simply putting text-only warnings, like "Cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health" or "Tobacco can harm your children."

Rocas said their group is willing to assist LGUs in crafting their own anti-smoking ordinance to save people from the ill-effects of smoking.

Statistics show there are 17.3 million adult Filipino smokers in 2009 while 8.9 percent of country's youth population aged 13 to 15 are smokers.

Survey also showed some 6.1M adult Filipinos are exposed to secondhand smoke at work while at least 10 Filipinos die every hour due to illnesses caused by smoking.

The national government through the Department of Health is also spending almost P44.6 billion in health care cost. Enditem