As he started what he described as his “second life,” 80-year-old Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada said he has no regrets stopping his lifelong vice of smoking.
In his message during the launching of the No Smoking Month at the City Hall on Thursday, Estrada said it was “torture” to abruptly quit his nicotine habit.
“About six months ago, I made an important decision that changed my life: After 60 years, I finally decided to stop smoking,” Estrada said.
“It has been six months…and I have no regrets,” he stressed.
“Quitting smoking is not a joke. Anyone who ever quits smoking will tell you the first few days is torture,” Estrada said.
But he made it though, he said, for the sake of his health and his family and to be able to set a good example to Manileños, especially the youth.
Last December, Estrada, a former actor, was briefly hospitalized due to asthma attacks. It was then, he recounted, that he made “that important decision.”
Last February, he ordered a citywide smoking ban and prodded the city council to enact a new ordinance that imposes higher fines and penalties to irresponsible smokers to serve as a deterrent.
June is the nationwide celebration of the National No Smoking Month in pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 183, series of 1993.
The proclamation extends the international observance of May 31 World No Tobacco Day to a whole month in order to intensify the campaign against smoking and raise public awareness on the ill effects of smoking as well as to encourage smokers to give up the habit.
The Department of Health is urging partner agencies, schools, universities, colleges and parents to religiously enforce a “100-percent smoke-free” school facilities nationwide.
At present, upon Estrada’s orders, the no-smoking rule is being strictly enforced at the city hall.
Estrada said he started smoking at the age of 20 when he was actor, and the habit never left him until he entered politics.
“In my age now — technically my second life, since the saying goes, ‘Life begins at 40’, it’s now my second life — there are still many opportunities for change and improvement,” he said.
Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Eric Tayag had earlier praised Estrada for being “a good example” to his constituents in quitting smoking and starting a healthier lifestyle.
“We are very happy about it,” Tayag said of Estrada’s decision.
“It’s difficult to be an example in the programs about health if the people cannot see it in us,” he added.
Tayag made this statement at the sidelines of the formal launching of the DOH’s hypertension awareness program on May 4, which the city government of Manila also hosted.
According to DOH, at least 87,000 Filipinos die yearly due to smoking-related illnesses such as lung cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart attack.
