With the City of Manila being the first local government unit in the Philippines to enforce a citywide smoking ban way back in 1969, Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada on Friday said he is elated he has maintained the capital city’s distinction as a “model city” in the anti-smoking campaign.
Estrada said he believes that with the recent passage of Ordinance No. 7812, or “The Smoke-Free Ordinance of the City Government of Manila,” he has cemented Manila’s title as the pioneer city that introduced a comprehensive anti-smoking ordinance 48 years ago.
“Our city has always been the first in putting premium to public health,” the mayor said. “With our new smoke-free ordinance, we will show to everyone that we are indeed serious in taking care of the people’s health.”
Warning smokers the city will not be lenient in enforcing the anti-smoking law that prescribes up to P5,000 in fine and three-day imprisonment, Estrada said he will see to it that every violator “will learn a lesson or two and serve as an example to others.”
Upon the urging of then-Manila Mayor Antonio Villegas, Estrada recounted that the city council enacted Ordinance No. 6842 on Jan. 17, 1969, which strictly prohibits smoking in buildings, bars and restaurants, factories and plants, public theaters, inside elevators, and in public utility vehicles.
Violators back then were fined P100 and imprisonment of 20 days, or both.
“Even before a national law against smoking was passed, Mayor Villegas made Manila as a nonsmoking city that prohibited smoking inside the buildings, including the public transports and movie theaters,” Estrada noted.
After quitting smoking last December, Estrada ordered a citywide smoking ban last February, calling on the Manileños to follow his example.
“I will not remind our countrymen again. The bad effects of smoking on health is not a joke,” he said.
On March 30, the Sangguniang Panglungsod unanimously approved in third and final reading Ordinance No. 7812 or the “Smoke-Free Ordinance of the City Government of Manila.”
Authored by Councilor Casimiro Sison, the new ordinance is intended to support the implementation of the old law, Ordinance No. 7748 that has been in effect since 1991. It prohibits smoking in all enclosed spaces and establishments such as bars, restaurants, public theaters, and malls; factories and plants, public utility vehicles, classrooms and school grounds, hospitals and clinics, and markets, among others.
Sison’s ordinance, on the other hand, limits its coverage to all public buildings, facilities and establishments “owned, used, or controlled or administered by the City Government of Manila.”
Under the recently passed ordinance, apprehended violators are to be fined P2,000 and/or one-day imprisonment or both for the first offense; P3,000 and two-day prison term for the second; and P5,000 and/or three-day imprisonment or both for the third offense.
This is a far cry from the measly P300 fine and a maximum of two-day imprisonment mandated in the 1991 ordinance.
Echoing Estrada’s warning, Manila Health Department chief Dr. Benjamin Yson said he is “more than 100 percent behind the mayor” in implementing a serious campaign against public smoking.
“Pneumonia, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), emphysema, and especially lung cancer, are somehow directly related to, or directly caused, by smoking,” Yson pointed out.
“It has long been proven that smoking can cause certain respiratory diseases… and environmental or second-hand smoke which is also causing similar respiratory problems in those who live with, stay with, or share significant amount of time with smokers,” he added.
It is no doubt, Yson stressed, that smoking is a risk factor in many diseases.
“It’s about time that we should gradually ban, or limit smoking,” he said.